The Los Angeles Lakers will play Dwight Howard and the Houston Rockets for the first time this season on Thursday, but Howard makes his Staples Center return tonight against the Clippers.
As we all know, Howard decided to sign with the Rockets, leaving an extra year and over $30 million on the table to not play for the Lakers. In leaving the Lakers, Howard left the premier NBA organization to play in a smaller market in Houston.
At shootaround before tonight’s game against the Clippers, Howard talked about his time with the Lakers to Mark Medina of the LA Daily News:
Dwight Howard on time w/ Lakers: “It’s over with. There’s no need to talk about it. Things happen. It wasn’t the best situation for anybody”
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) November 4, 2013
Lakers head coach Mike D’Antoni said yesterday that he hasn’t had any contact with Howard since he made his decision to leave, which isn’t surprising whatsoever. It was Howard who asked the Lakers to fire D’Antoni and accelerate the plan of making him the focal point of the team, even if it meant amnestying Kobe Bryant.
Like Howard, the Lakers have moved on without him and have built a team that has better chemistry than the 2012-13 team. Point guard Steve Nash has said on several occasions that the team is having fun again as Howard’s one year with the Lakers was an epic disappointment.
The Lakers were never Howard’s first choice to be traded to as he wanted to be traded to the Brooklyn Nets before the Magic, Nuggets and Lakers agreed to a three-team trade two summers ago.
Howard will be remembered for his complaining, immaturity and inability to make plays when it counted as the Lakers and him are better off without each other.
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