5. Dwight Howard
2012-13 was one of the most disappointing seasons in Lakers’ history. What started as a year full of hopes and expectations unfolded in a forgetful run, soon derailing into a nightmare that ended in the worst way.
Following the acquisition of an injured Dwight Howard and an aging Steve Nash, Mitch Kupchak and Jim Buss hoped to have assembled a superteam which would deliver another championship in Los Angeles.
Things did not go the way they were supposed to. A tumultuous season, amidst an improbable slew of injuries, long-time owner Jerry Buss’s death, a controversial change of coach and a rampant malcontent, forced 34-year-old Kobe Bryant to overwork to drag his team to the playoffs. That led to a terrible Achilles injury which put, in fact, an end to the Black Mamba’s career as we knew it.
On top of this wretched events, the Lakers faced a major challenge in free agency, trying to re-sign Dwight Howard to a multi-year deal after such a disappointing season.
Expectations were that Howard would re-sign anyway and help to set the foundation for a new Lakers team, in await of Bryant’s return from the Achilles tear, and hoping for better luck injury-wise.
(Un)fortunately, the All-NBA center opted to join the up-and-coming Houston Rockets, forming a one-two punch with revelation James Harden.
Things did not work out well for Howard and the Rockets. Besides reaching the Conference Finals in 2015, they never advanced beyond the first round.
Irreconcilable differences between him and Harden led to a divorce in 2016, casting a definitive shadow on Howard’s locker room reputation, piling on previous controversies in Orlando and Los Angeles. He got traded that same summer, turning him into a journeyman, which combined with injuries and the evolution of the game, led to a decay of his career.
In retrospective, not being able to re-sign the 6’11” center was a blessing for the Lakers. He would have probably given them more problems than benefits and they would have had their cap space clogged by a player playing a role which would disappear shortly, probably unable to build around him.