Los Angeles Lakers: Examining the future contract situation at center

In a recent conversation on his podcast, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said Dwight Howard is more likely to be re-signed by the Los Angeles Lakers than DeMarcus Cousins.

Dwight Howard has been, for many reasons, a wild card for the Lakers this year. He provided the frontcourt the depth they craved after DeMarcus Cousins went down with an ACL injury. He anchors the Lakers’ defense whenever he is on the floor. He boosts the bench with his energetic plays and enthusiasm. He has been a positive presence in the locker room.

Many were questioning when he joined the team, due to his past physical and conduct issues. For this reason, he received a non-guaranteed contract that allowed the front office to get rid of him as soon as he became a distraction.

Well, nothing of this happened and his contract was guaranteed in January. The Lakers have been really happy with his contribution and they might be looking forward to retaining him.

According to Windhorst, the LA team would be more likely to keep him next season to get everything he is left in the tank than re-sign DeMarcus Cousins, who is recovering from the third major injury in his left leg and it is not clear what kind of contribution he could give.

As Windhorst declared in his podcast:

"“He (Cousins) has had three consecutive serious injuries on top of each other with the Achilles, the quad injury and then the ACL. All of which indicate they’d be coming back and doing too much too fast. Which indicates he would even need more time to come back from this. He’s gonna have a job in the league but I don’t think it’s going to be for big money.”"

And regarding Howard:

"“The Lakers are still keeping Dwight Howard around to see if they can squeeze another year out with this production level rather than having a mystery with DeMarcus Cousins.”"

Does it make sense for the Los Angeles Lakers to re-sign Dwight Howard?

There is no denying that it makes sense at every level for the Los Angeles Lakers. Howard has been averaging an efficient 7.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 19.2 minutes per game, doing whatever he is asked to do.

Teammates are happy to play with him and there has not been any sign of concern. It is logical to bring him back at that price and see if he still can do this for another one or two years.

At the same time, if Cousins is going to be in the veteran minimum range, he might be brought back as well and slowly reinstated in the game, to ease the transition for his hurt body. There will not be a high demand for him, being the third center on the team, and he could take all the time doctors advise him to.

There is no reason to believe the two cannot co-exist. As previously pointed out, Cousins will have to go through a long transition to both safely prepare his body to sustain the stress of an NBA season and to adjust to a new role, probably that of a stretch-5. In the meantime, Howard’s minutes as an energetic defender will not be at risk for any reason.

Dwight looks like a safer bet, but there is a chance both are back in purple and gold next year and have the chance to give their contributions in a championship run.