– Be productive for AD
One of the main reasons why the Lakers added Dwight Howard was in order to keep Anthony Davis from having to play big minutes at center this coming season. After Cousins went down, the Lakers’ roster was without a backup for JaVale McGee.
While McGee did have a good season for the Lakers last year, he isn’t a guy that is going to be playing much more than 20 minutes a night. With that being the case, the Lakers needed to add another center to help either be the backup for McGee, or to possibly take the starting spot from him.
Howard should be able to minutes comparable to McGee, if not some more. Having two centers on the team should allow Davis to play power forward a majority of the time. The Lakers will surely use Davis some at center when they go small to potentially finish games, but we won’t see him playing a ton there in the regular season with Howard.
Keeping Davis at power forward will not only keep him happy, but it should keep him healthy. The Lakers of course know that they need Davis at 100 percent or close to it in order to win a championship. Having two viable centers should help him avoid the little bumps and bruises of playing down low.