Los Angeles Lakers: Dwight Howard talks about first stint with Lakers

Dwight Howard recently talked about wanting to take the torch from Kobe Bryant in his first stint with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Not too long ago, it looked like the Los Angeles Lakers created a fantastic superteam that would dominate the NBA.

The Lakers were able to have a great summer, in which they brought in Steve Nash and Dwight Howard to pair with Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. This squad looked like it was going to run through the Western Conference on their way to a championship. However, things did not go as planned.

Injuries certainly played a major factor in the Lakers not reaching their goals that season, and things began to spiral when those goals weren’t reached. With Howard being in the final year of his contract, he didn’t like his one year in Los Angeles and decided to walk in free agency.

Considering Howard was young and in his prime at the time, the Lakers certainly thought he was going to be the next face of the franchise after Kobe. Unfortunately, that ended up not being the case.

Recently, Howard spoke with Graham Bensigner about what he wanted when he arrived in Los Angeles the first time. Here’s what he had to say with text via Silver Screen and Roll.

"“I knew that Kobe was one of those players that’s about to transition out of the NBA, so it’s like, ‘Man, I can learn a lot from this guy.’ And I want to be that guy. When he leaves, I want him to be able to say, ‘Dwight, here. Take over.’ That’s all I wanted. I just wanted to learn and soak up as much knowledge as possible, that way when it’s my time, I can give that knowledge to somebody else.”"

Obviously, things did not go the way that Howard or the Lakers wanted the first time around in Los Angeles. That Lakers team was unable to win a title with him and three other future Hall-of-Famers. However, Howard in a lesser role this time will have a chance to help.

The Lakers are once again positioned to be one of the best teams in the NBA. With the Warriors taking a step back this offseason, the Lakers have arguably the best duo in the NBA with LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

While Howard isn’t the All-Star he was in his first stint with the Lakers, he will play an important role this season. It wasn’t how he or the Lakers drew it up, but Howard could still get a ring with the Lakers.