It was nonsensical to hate Dwight. But after the messy ending in Florida, the Dwightmare of last summer and a remarkably disappointing season with the Lake Show, Howard's stock fell faster than the market in mid-September, Now, the smiling face of the center position has become a stomach-churning one, synonymous with indecisiveness and immaturity. But eventually Howard will have to make a choice once more. Let's take a look at what each location would do for his image.
Even if D12 comes out of the mountains and proclaims that he'd like to become the newest member of the Warriors organization, it will not matter.
He would have to join the Dubs via a sign-and-trade, which the Lakers will not do. But, just for the sake of the argument, let's say that Golden State does manage to wrest Howard away from the Lakers. This would immediately become one of the easier situations for Howard's image to thrive in.
He'd be joining a team America fell in love with during last season's playoffs. Although they're quickly becoming a powerful team in the Western Conference, especially as Barnes and Thompson continue to develop, the Warriors remain the underdogs that draw a ton of rooting interest. Maybe it's the nature of the team, given the lack of recent success.
Maybe it's Stephen Curry's face, one that makes him look like he should be suiting up for a middle-school team. Maybe it's Mark Jackson pacing up and down the sidelines and motivating his players during huddles. Whatever it is, the Dubs are a likable squad. Championships wouldn't be expected, simply because it doesn't seem feasible for the current version of Golden State to win titles.
After all, what's gone right for this franchise over the past few decades, other than a couple playoff upsets? The sight of Curry throwing alley-oops to D12 would also help his image out tremendously.
Verdict: Image easily rebounds to pre-L. The Lakers spent the rest of the decade in complete and utter futility, repeatedly setting franchise records for losses and becoming a laughingstock rather than the gold standard for the league. But maybe if they had kept an in-his-prime superstar, things might have been different.
So what would have happened if Dwight Howard had stayed with the Lakers? One of the reasons Howard had one foot out the door the entire season was his inability to get along with Kobe Bryant , the established superstar of the Lakers. They famously clashed in public and behind closed doors, even if they attempted to make light of the feud.
The lasting image of Bryant coming out to the Lakers bench moments after Howard was ejected from the final game of the season, Game 4 against San Antonio, is emblematic of how the two were never on the same page.
In hindsight, that seems damn near impossible considering what we know about Bryant, but maybe his desire to win was so overwhelming that he was willing to make concessions to keep Howard around. Perhaps the arduous process of recovering from his Achilles injury would convince Bryant that he needed Howard, and that the two of them could forge a path forward together.
The Lakers entered the hoping to compete for the playoffs, but they made some salary-cutting moves given that they no longer had the expectation of contending for a title. Say goodbye to Xavier Henry — and those awesome dunks — and Wes Johnson in this scenario.
Now over a year removed from back surgery, Howard was in prime form once more, still capable of dominating the league at age He was an All-Star and second-team all-NBA in with Houston, and it stands to reason he would have performed similarly in Los Angeles, particularly since he could have started the season as the focal point on offense while Bryant rehabbed. They started the season while waiting for Bryant to comeback and then essentially closed up shop once Bryant suffered a knee injury after his return.
Furthermore, Bryant would have been afforded more time to rehab; the Achilles injury sapped some fundamental juice from his game, but months off instead of eight might have turned him into a league-average shooting guard by the end of the regular season instead of a complete shell of his former self.
The Lakers are probably still not good enough to overtake San Antonio, or even Oklahoma City, in the Western Conference, but a playoff appearance makes them more attractive in free agency. Either way, this is still the Kobe-Dwight show.
Then it becomes a question of what L. What if it was DeAndre Jordan and Bledsoe? If the Warriors make an offer centered on either Klay Thompson or Harrison Barnes , does the Lakers' interest perk up? Part of running an NBA team is being in the business of acquiring assets. Clearly, the Lakers don't want to part with a player like Howard who might be the second best two-way player in the game behind LeBron James.
But if Howard has no interest in that, you would have to think L. If they trade Howard, the Warriors deal seems the most appealing. But say Houston clears enough space to sign Howard outright, it wouldn't make any sense at that point for Howard to facilitate a sign-and-trade just so L.
Houston is a much more appealing destination when he has guys like Asik, Lin and Chandler Parsons waiting for him as teammates than it is with a few of them going to the purple and gold in exchange. Trading Howard also means that the Lakers don't necessarily keep Pau Gasol. If they trade Howard for Asik, for instance, that would mean Gasol would be out the door, either through the amnesty clause saving L.
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