2. Dwight Howard
The Los Angeles Lakers already resurrected Dwight Howard‘s career once. There is a parallel universe that is very similar to ours where the only thing that is different is the DeMarcus Cousins not tearing his ACL before the 2019-20 season and thus, Howard never returned to the league.
Nobody wanted Howard before the 2019-20 season but once Cousins suffered his injury the Lakers had to scramble and bring in whatever option was on the market. That option was Howard, who played a decent role in the team’s title run, even hitting the last shot of the season for the Lakers in 2020.
Howard left for Philly and returned last summer and his third stint with the team has not been as impactful as his second. First, the team chose to play DeAndre Jordan over him, which was obviously a mistake considering Jordan is no longer on the team.
Even without Jordan and Anthony Davis being hurt, Howard is getting limited playing time and has not looked very good in recent weeks in the playing time he is getting. He is a step slower than he was last season and it makes you wonder how much longer his career will last.
The traditional center has never been less valuable in the NBA and as we see every year, there are plenty of guys who can give a team what Howard theoretically gives the team. If he continues to struggle in the last month of the season that could remove his chance of having a job next season.