When I first heard the news, I was Ecstatic! Dwight Howard is coming back to Los Angeles since leaving in free agency in 2013. Let’s rewind and take a look at what just happened.
In August of 2012, the Magic pulled the trigger to trade Howard to the Lakers in a blockbuster deal that send Andrew Bynum to the Philadelphia, Iguodala to Denver and multiple players to the Magic. The Lakers were entering the season with a star studded team led by five time champion Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Metta World Peace, Steve Nash and Dwight Howard. The Lakers did it again, Well at least we thought.
October 30, 2012; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers point guard Steve Nash (10), small forward Metta World Peace (15), shooting guard Kobe Bryant (24), center Dwight Howard (12) and power forward Pau Gasol (16) during the game against the Dallas Mavericks at the Staples Center. Dallas won 99-91. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
The Lakers started the season 1-4 and in the second week of the season, the Lakers fire head coach Mike Brown and days later, hire Mike D’Antoni. Well, we all know how it all ended with Kobe’s Achilles injury and let’s just remember, the last time the Lakers made the playoffs was when Dwight Howard was on the team, against the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs.
The City of Los Angeles was literarily begging Howard to stay but Howard wasn’t pleased with Kobe Bryant and the lack of focus the team had in working around him as the center piece moving forward. He decided to sign with Houston and shut the door on the Lakers. This move left a really bad taste in people’s mouth in Los Angeles. Which is every time Howard returned to the Staple Center, the amounts of boos that came towards Howard was just unreal. Dwight’s career has been rocky for the past few seasons but still performing on the court when healthy. So much speculation surrounding Howard in whether he’ll ever play in the NBA again, that was the case for the last month until just a few days ago in which Dwight Howard and the Los Angeles Lakers have reach an agreement in a non guaranteed contract for the 2019-2020 season. The Lakers have until Jan 7, 2020 to guaranteed Dwight’s contract.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Lakers have warned him, any disruptions and he’s out!
Howard came to meet Lakers after dropping 25 pounds; showed his back was healthy. Lakers want him to protect rim/rebound in limited role. There was sense Howard realized he hit "rock bottom" and had been humbled. Still they'll judge him on actions, not words. He's been warned.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 23, 2019
The Lakers did the right thing to bring back Dwight Howard to the lakers, let me tell you why:
Cousins recently injured his knee which might keep him out for the year or maybe ready by the playoffs. The Lakers needed another big to help protect the rim and give the team with LeBron James some help. Not many options were available for the Lakers. With training camp right around the corner and the Lakers needing to make a quick move, the question was, what’s the best available right now? Which in this case, it’s Dwight Howard.
Dwight has some unfinished business here in Los Angeles ever since he left in the summer of 2013. Not a lot of people are excited about this move and I can see why BUT Dwight is in the best shape of his life and just a year ago he averaged 16 points and 12 rebounds and played 81 out of 82 games for the Hornets. Howard has never been in a team with this type of talent that the Lakers currently have including LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Howard says he’s ready to do whatever is needed from the team to achieve the one goal they are trying to reach, win a championship.
Laker fans and NBA fans, Give Dwight Howard a chance to redeem himself with the purple and gold.
@DwightHoward I am ecstatic to have you back with the @Lakers and continue towards the path we once thought we were going to before you drove off to the @HoustonRockets! Welcome back Superman!! @InTheFrontRowLA #lakers #showtime #lakeshow #dwighthoward #thefredoreport
— Fredo (@FredoCervantes) August 26, 2019
