Los Angeles Lakers: 3 Reasons to be thankful for this past offseason

Dwight Howard signing

One of the moves that the Lakers made after missing out on Kawhi Leonard was the signing of DeMarcus Cousins. Despite being injured the last few seasons, it appeared like Cousins was finally healthy and ready to have a bounce-back season.

However, in a summer workout, Cousins tore his ACL, leaving the Lakers in a tough spot to try and find a replacement. Since most free agents had already signed, the options left for the Lakers at the center position weren’t ideal.

Luckily, the Lakers fell on to Dwight Howard. Considering Howard’s poor history with the Lakers and his reputation around the league in recent years, many were skeptical about the signing.

While these were legitimate concerns, Howard has been great for the Lakers and doing all of the right things. Howard is coming off the bench and being a very effective player for the Lakers. Arguably, he has out-performed the start for the Lakers in JaVale McGee.

Howard has been effective on both ends of the court, as he is averaging over one block per game. Even though he isn’t the superstar that he was the first time around with the Lakers, he has been a very valuable asset off the bench.