In the summer of 2012, the Los Angeles Lakers acquired center Dwight Howard from the Orlando Magic in a blockbuster four-team trade. Along with a sign-and-trade with the Phoenix Suns to bring in guard Steve Nash, the Lakers made two moves that were designed to put them in title contention with an aging Kobe Bryant, although that never came to fruition.
Head coach Mike Brown would be fired five games into the season and the franchise would hire Mike D’Antoni, who would finish out the year with a 40-32 record. However, with the Lakers trying to make a last second push to make the playoffs, Bryant would tear his Achilles due to playing high minutes and workload in the second half of the season, ending any championship hopes.
The Lakers would get swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round with Howard being ejected in Game 4, leaving some uncertainty heading into his pending free agency. The No. 1 pick of the 2004 Draft would ultimately sign with the Houston Rockets, angering Lakers fans for years before he would come back in the 2019-20 season to win a championship.
Howard reflected on his decision to go to the Rockets that year in an interview with Math Hoffa, thinking teaming up with James Harden would be a better move for him than an aging and injured Bryant:
“I felt the best team for me at the time was obviously, I wanted to go to Brooklyn but that didn’t happen, so I went to the Lakers and when I saw James Harden, I looked at him like a younger version of Kobe. I don’t know why I was thinking that. No disrespect to James, I’m not saying he’s bad or anything, but you know I was thinking at the time me and James could be a new version of Kobe and Shaq. Because he’s the young two-guard coming up in the league, I’m the older center that’s dominating. I was thinking, man maybe we got a chance. The furthest we got was the Western Conference Finals, but I feel like we wasn’t on the same page like we needed to. Y’know, if I could’ve stayed in some spots longer, I definitely would have [won a ring]. The Lakers decision was solely based on me and James was going to be better at that time. Me and Kobe, we could’ve figured it out, I think we left a lot of shit out on the table, we could’ve figured that out.
Howard and Bryant did not mesh on the court, failing to see eye to eye on a lot of things. Bryant was always locked in and concentrated on winning while Howard was more light-hearted and easy going. Those issues seemed to be prevalent, although Howard regrets not trying to stay and work it out:
“I feel like if I would’ve stayed in L.A., I think a lot of the narratives would’ve changed around about me. I think me leaving and not saying anything about anything, it gave the other media voice to speak on my behalf and say what they felt. Since I didn’t say nothing, now people got this whole misconception about ‘oh, he couldn’t handle the spotlight,’ ‘oh, he didn’t wanna be here because of one guy.’ I didn’t really say anything about it and I should’ve stepped up, I should’ve manned up and said something. But, looking back on it, if I would’ve sat down and really thought about my decisions without being in my emotions, I probably would’ve stayed in L.A at that time.”
With now three stints with the Lakers, it is intriguing to see Howard open up about the decision to leave Los Angeles in the first place. That led to fans turning against Howard, although he was able to come back and get a championship with the Lakers to make up for it.
Howard wishes he would’ve handled that free agency decision differently, but things came full circle and he was able to win the Lakers fans back on top of winning his first championship and No. 17 for the franchise.
Anthony Davis agrees to max contract extension
Another prominent big man on the Lakers Anthony Davis is now extension eligible and it is rumored that the front office wasted no time on ironing out a deal to keep him in Los Angeles through the 2028 season.
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