Dwight Howard is returning to the Lakers. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link), Howard and the Grizzlies are finalizing a buyout and the center will latch on with Los Angeles once that it complete.
Howard had several meetings with the Lakers, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com (Twitter links). Howard came in after dropping 25 pounds and showcased his that back was healthy. Woj hears that the Lakers got the sense that Howard had hit “rock bottom” and it had humbled him. While the Lakers are signing the center, they are proceeding with caution, as the deal is non-guaranteed.
The team wants him to come in and serve in a rim protecting/rebounding role. Several Lakers players were involved in the decision to bring Howard to the club.
The Lakers considered several options to fill the void DeMarcus Cousins‘ injury created. Joakim Noah also worked out for L.A. and the franchise believes that Noah and Howard could each help the team.
Howard’s deal will pay him the veteran’s minimum, which will be worth approximately $2.6MM. Again, it’s non-guaranteed.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Happy Birthday Kobe!
lol
If Howard seriously embraces the role of a rebounder & post defender, he will be able to revive his career & rebuild his image while the Lakers will become a legit threat to the Clippers and the Rockets in the West. While DH cannot have the same impact Cousins would have had on the Lakers offense, he can certainly provide more rebounds & post defense that Cousins could have.
When had Howard ceased being a rebounder and post defender? He may not have been an exceptional defender but he still was a 12 rebound and 1.5 block performer in his last full season in 2017-18.
Obviously not the same, intensity, effort & desire after he was let go by the Rockets. Or haven’t you noticed??
Let’s be real.. Cousins was not making any impact on offense!
“would have” but we’ll never get to see coz he got injured.
@nyy42 How in the world could you possibly know that? Last year, on a team with 3 super productive scorers in Curry, Klay and Durant, Cousin’s found a way to eek out 16/8/4. To say he would not have been enough of an option to post near double double numbers is absurd.
Non guaranteed! Good job Lakers.
but he is soft
In this era of the NBA, the rules have kinda made 90% of the NBA players “soft”. The game itself is “soft”, not much physicality & ruggedness in defense & rebounding. Blame the NBA for that.
People are going to hate, and I want to hate, but this is a good pickup. After a long career of being a star, then a disappointment, it seems that Howard now just wants to play basketball and win. He’s still skilled.
Lmao I’m an embarrassed Lakers fan.
He will provide nothing but drama, and has a bad back so won’t play many games.
This Laker team is really, really old. No way all of these 30 plus guys stay healthy all year.!
That said… As for Dwight specifically… It’s a good move. It’s no risk. Hopefully he’s motivated and in great shape. It would be amazing if he could still give you 15 and 10.
Most “win now” teams hover closer to 30 than 20 in this league.
You are either ignorant or just a Lakers hater or both. The oldest guys on the team are LeBron-34 and Howard-33. The rest of the team or in the mid to high 20s. I sent someone pissed off with how loaded this Lakers team is and just trying to figure out excuses why they have even a reason to think their team has a snowballs chance in hell.
I love the lakers. Danny green is 32. Rondo 34. McGee 32. Dudley, 34.
Avery Bradley 30. Forgot about him.
Avery Bradley could be a key here. If he can find his game when he was a top-notch Defender and scorer, he could be very very strong.
I’m hoping the same for Alec Burks for the Warriors… Though Bradley has a much more successful NBA history than Burks.
Not to mention that both LeBron and Howard were both drafted straight out of high school. So their legs have even more games on them than a college player the same age.
Even with a young Davis, I think this Lakers team is going to hit a wall around midseason and will be lucky to even make the playoffs.
@hiflew
My guy…what’s the difference between coming right out of high-school and being what today’s college one-and-done guys are?? There’s will be no significant difference of games logged by today’s LBJ and the future of Zion assuming he stays healthy and plays as many years as LBJ.
That’s not true… in college they play 30-35 game seasons. In the NBA it’s 82… that’s a pretty significant difference wear and tear wise – especially for a guy who’s 6’11” or whatever Dwight is. Not saying he has nothing left in the tank — but he’s also got a lot of miles on him as well.
@Jeff Zanghi
Some suggested that because both LBJ and Howard were drafted straight out of high-school that somehow they hold a greater risk of breaking down because they played in an 82 game league as opposed to a 38 game NCAA schedule. My point was that considering most top players in the NBA are one-and-done guys those 50 extra games LBJ and Howard played 1 year removed from high-school has zero releveance when you’re talking about guys 15 years into their careers.
That’s literally saying that players that came out of this year’s draft are going to be more prone to injury than sophomores coming out in next year’s draft. Zion would have had about 120 games played between last year and this year where as a college sophomore in next year’s draft would’ve only played about 76 games in the same time span. That’s not how it works.
You are not paying attention! You missed some guys well over 30!
how is the team old? when like 6 guys are over 30 dont make the team old. when the rest are 29 and under.
All 6 guys are e petted to be in the top 9 rotation. That’s old.
Expexted
Lol expected
Expended
AD is only 26. People often ignore this.
I agree def not close to as bad as the 16 Knicks, but definitely similar.
I would’ve chosen Dwight as long as he’s in shape and finally gets it…my second choice would’ve been Joakim…hopefully he is being legit when he says he wants to come in and help any way he can
This move will backfire on the Lakers. Law of Unintended Consequences will bite the Lakers hard on this move further down the road. Lakers FO stands for Freaking Oblivious, what were they attempting to think? D12 hit rock bottom and now knows what it takes….LOLOLOLOL He is humble now!!!!! Please no more Soft Serve BS
@paladin Mu guy…he’s being paid very little money to come in and be the starting or back up center. He’s likely not going to be a top scoring option and will be asked to clean the boards, get some easy put backs or score on broken down lays, rebound and protect the rim. Stop acting like this is a monumental role and the teams fortunes rests on his shoulders. I don’t know if it’s hate or not but it is absolutely overthinking this move. He’s a piece of a puzzle. No more. No less.
There are better players to bring in besides someone who needs emotional support. Noah would be much better and Disabled 12 is sure to be hurt sooner than later. Why waste the time? I dont care if its non guaranteed…It’s a waste of time from the beginning and when he comes up lame, what then? Dump more minutes on AD? Lakers already need a backup center for their backup center. The only thing Disabled12 has proven is that he is a surefire injury waiting to happen. But you know better, of course.
@paladin
Narratives are so funny.
Let’s see, Noah is more durable than Howard.
Truth: Noah has played 124 games the last 4 yeas. Howard has played 235.
Howard is much older than Noah thus more subject to break down,
Truth: Noah turns 35 in Feb and Howard turns 34 in Dec.
At least in terms of stats, Noah is better.
Truth: Noah averaged 15/12 w/ 1.5 block per 36 min w/shooting in the low .50’s FG%. Howard posted 18/15 w/ 1.8 blocks per 36 shooting in the low 60s.
These guys are professional and I’m sure they are all in for the greater good of the team with a bunch of guys who have chips on their shoulder and hungry to prove people wrong by winning a championship. Odd to say but even with LBJ this is sort of a collective of guys who have something to prove. I think Howard buys in to that and I bet LBJ will do his best to accommodate him.
If Disabled12 plays more than 70 games with 8 & 8 type numbers I stand corrected but I will see pigs fly before I see 70 games from Disgruntled12 but you know better. So we will see because it will answer itself and you’ll here from me later on this for sure. Right or wrong. When D12 goes down, that leaves Lakers in deep stew and you’ll hear from me Mr. Bully. Why fall for D12 Soft Serve BS routine? Total mistake and we will see who gets it right! D12 hit rock bottom & needs emotional support…LOL…Kobe had it right…SOFT
@paladin
Howard was limited to 9 games because of an injury. He played a minimum of 71 games each of the 3 previous seasons including 81 games played the year before this past. So yes, he was injured last year, but overall he was very healthy the 3 years prior.
The whole “soft” tag is so weird to me. It doesn’t refer to his durability as I mentioned he played at least 71 games from 2015-15 to 2017-18. This is the NBA, not street gangs. You really aren’t going to see guys fighting each other like this is at the Rucker. As long as he competes and isn’t afraid to bang with the big boys then what are we talking about? Mental toughness? And since when was Kobe ever a team friendly guy? He leads by example which is great but he has thrown many teammates under the bus too.
All this is, is another “narrative bull” statement and we accept these narratives created by the media like its extra crispy bacon. Just eat eat eat eat it up. I’m not a LBJ, Laker or Howard fan but it just irks me how things stick. Howard might be a jerk. He might even be self-centered. Our paths have never crossed and none of the players I know have ever said anything about him. But I see a guy that’s a walking double double and can still protect the rim and shoot at a high level. Considering what his role will be he should do a great job if he stars healthy.
Kobe narrative is not the medias narrative. I trust Kobe’s narrative much more than yours. Just saying….I don’t eat pork like you do, no way is he a double machine..LOL….Let time tell us the answer, more of your useless, baseless “narrative bull” doesn’t prove anything but your opinion….And like all opinions, they stink….D12 has NO mental toughness and it will show but you know more than Kobe of course. Save the useless reply and let the season show us who is correct…..You will hear from me about your hilarious statement saying D12 will be a double-double machine….Save your Soft Serve BS please….
Let Wagner & Zubac leave for nothing and no reason… Sign D12
.. it’s all part of Rob’s “plan”
Man a broken down DH12 is way better & more preferable than scrubs & dross like Wagner & Zubac put together.
Howard does need to follow through on his posturing but no doubt he is ready, motivated & talented.
It would not hurt to sign Noah too. The Bulls and Warriors won multiple titles with a center rotation.
If Howard is going to be as active as he plans he will be likely to get himself injured.
GSW has no peer in the West other than Utah.
@Strike Four
C’mon my guy. GSW won 57 games last year with a healthy Curry, Clay, Durant and Boogie (for about 40 games). Houston won 53 and are bringing back most of it’s team. The Clippers won 48 and have just added PG13 and Kawhi and some bench pieces. Laker’s acquired AD and bench pieces. Fast forward and you minus Durant for the season and you won’t have a recovering Klay until Feb 2020. You did add Russell but he can’t do what Durant did and he’s not the same kind of offensive threat as Klay was. Almost as important, he’s not the defensive player that Klay was either. He needs the ball in his hands and he’s not as much of a catch and shoot player like Klay. You can’t objectively argue that GSW has lost some ground and that the Clippers and Lakers have dramatically improved and Houston and others at least maintained if not made improvements too.
GSW have zero room for Curry to be injured or warn out. He has to step up his scoring responsibilities. The team could win if Curry was off because they had Durant to put the team on his back. That’s not happening this season. You have to hope Curry can handle the extra load and burden to be placed on his body.
Warriors picked up D’Angelo Russell. He was an All-Star last year 23 years old 20 points a game. I think he’ll help out alot in the areas you’re talking about.