Los Angeles Lakers: Lakers players and their Disney equivalents

Dwight Howard: Hercules

Hercules was not always a strong, confident character. In fact, he was hated by most of his village, known as a freak who could not harness his strength and always caused trouble. However, Hercules did learn to harness his strength through coaching and accepting who he was.

This is eerily similar to Dwight Howard’s story with the Los Angeles Lakers. Dwight had a ton of promise when he joined the Lakers in the 2012-2013 season but was not able to harness that strength after a 2012 offseason back surgery as his first play with the Lakers was a missed dunk. Dwight left the Lakers after one season becoming the most hated NBA player amongst circles in Los Angeles.

However, just like Hercules, Dwight is now older and wiser as he has harnessed his strength to fit into a perfect role with the team. Rather than always trying to be the superstar, Dwight has shown he can still throw down dunks with the best of them, but is playing his role by using his strength to rebound, defend and throw down vicious dunks only when needed.

If there was an unlikely story in the NBA, it was that Dwight Howard would ever rejoin the Los Angeles Lakers after the horrible taste he left in fans’ mouths when he left. Hercules was considered a freak who caused nothing but trouble in his village but ended up saving the entire world as his entire village was thankful for Hercules after making him an outcast.

If Dwight can help the Lakers win a championship this year after being outcast, he could easily become a true Lakers zero to hero.