Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE
The Lakers made official the news we already knew was coming. Dwight Howard has been ruled out for the start of the Lakers training camp as announced by the team yesterday and expected by the hoops world pretty much from the moment Superman II became a Laker.
In addition to missing the early practices the Lakers are also going as far as to rule out Howard for the early preseason games as well. The Lakers start preseason play in Fresno against the Golden State Warriors on October 7th. Naturally the next question is will Howard be ready for the regular season opener on October 30th? That seems unlikely given he still has yet to be cleared to conduct physical activates.
But the Lakers knew what they were getting into prior to acquiring Howard. It’s not like any of this is a real surprise. Howard had his procedure done in Los Angeles and has been here ever since. So you’d like to believe the Lakers had a chance to at least inspect the goods prior purchase.
No matter the particulars this is what it is. Hopefully this is the most extensive amount of time Howard will miss as a result of his back. Swapping the bad knees of Andrew Bynum for the bad back of Howard would be a lateral move if DH can’t stay healthy.