17-year basketball veteran Dwight Howard has been through a lot over his NBA career. After establishing himself as a star in Orlando, he became a widely recognized name in the NBA and earned himself quite a bit of notoriety within the community.
But once he joined the Lakers in 2012, his career took a turn for the worst, until he was eventually nearly exiled from the league completely.
When he made his way back to Los Angeles in 2020, nobody had high expectations for him — but he quickly proved he could contribute to a winning culture, and eventually helped the Lakers capture their 17th NBA Championship.
It would be almost two years before he would return to don the Purple and Gold again, but he seems more than stoked to be representing basketball’s most luxurious franchise.
“Ain’t nothing like HOME. ain’t nothing like that PURPLE AND GOLD ” Howard wrote on his Instagram post.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CTbbY8PgEiy
Dwight’s run during the 2012-13 season was far from ideal. As he was fighting to recover from back surgery, his game wasn’t quite what it was in Orlando, not to mention that he apparently rubbed shoulders with Kobe Bryant at the time.
In fact, Kobe had predicted from the jump that things weren’t going to work out.
“I was standing right next to him at his camp when he first talked to Dwight Howard,” said Jalen Rose. “And I’mma say this now because they made amends. I’ve never said this before. When he got on the phone with Dwight Howard, because I know what that conversation was. I was right there and Dwight was excited; he was asking him about L.A. He was asking him about how he was going to help him, make him better; he asked him off the court, he asked about everything. After he asked all of those questions, you know what Kobe said? I’mma show you mofo how to get championships. What do you think about that? He got off the phone with Dwight Howard and said, ‘his head ain’t in the right place. This ain’t gonna work.’ And, it didn’t work.”
There’s no going back to change history at this point, but it’s rather poetic that Dwight has revitalized his career in the same place it took a free-fall all those years ago.
The only hope now is that Howard will continue to give the team what they need as they pursue another Championship.
