Los Angeles Lakers: Why the team must re-sign Dwight Howard

The Los Angeles Lakers have several reasons to re-sign Dwight Howard.

After DeMarcus Cousins tore his Achilles in summer 2019, Los Angeles Lakers GM Rob Pelinka tried out almost every unsigned big man to find a replacement. When he settled on Dwight Howard, many fans were not happy.

Howard was a Laker once before when the team had traded for him back in 2012, and that didn’t exactly work out very well. Dwight had spent his first eight seasons with Orlando, where he averaged 18 points and 13 rebounds a game and had exceeded those numbers for the preceding five seasons.

He had been selected to the All-NBA team six times, to the All-Defensive Team five times and was regarded as the league’s best center.

But Howard had off-season back surgery, and in retrospect probably came back too soon with his new team. He got off to a slow start and was out of sync from the start with Kobe Bryant.

He recovered to average 17 points and 12 rebounds and made the All-NBA third team. The Lakers were the hottest team in the league in the second half of the season. But with Bryant out with an injury, they crashed and burned in the playoffs, getting swept in the first round by the San Antonio Spurs.

The final indignity occurred that off-season when Howard defied conventional wisdom and opted NOT to re-sign with the Lakers. No star in his prime had ever left the NBA’s premier franchise. Then-GM Mitch Kupchak even had billboards erected asking Dwight to stay. Fans viewed that as an embarrassing act of desperation.

In the following six seasons, Howard played for four different teams and started a downward slide from the NBA elite while his reputation suffered. Because of injuries, he played only nine games for Washington in 2018-19 and no team seriously pursued him last off-season.

But when Pelinka approached him, Howard was a changed man, someone willing not only to accept but to embrace a supporting role. The two agreed to a one-year contract from which the Lakers could waive him through the first part of the season without owing him any money if things weren’t working out well.

Howard went on to exceed nearly everyone’s expectations. He played an important role as the second unit center throughout the regular season and became a starter in the Finals against Miami.

Now he is once again a free agent. Pelinka will have a difficult time fitting in every Lakers free agent under the salary cap, but here are three reasons why he should unquestionably try to re-sign Dwight.