Just a couple of minutes after announcing the signings of Trevor Ariza and Wayne Ellington, the Los Angeles Lakers completed yet another reunion.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the purple-and-gold will once again have Dwight Howard on their ranks, as he’ll be back with the team following a one-year tenure with the Philadelphia 76ers:
“Free agent center Dwight Howard has agreed to return to the Los Angeles Lakers, his agent Qais Haider tells @TheAthletic @Stadium. Howard helped the Lakers win the 2020 NBA championship, proving to be productive on the floor and a positive presence in the locker room — and now returns to Los Angeles to fortify the team’s frontcourt,” Charania tweeted.
Howard helped the Lakers win the 2020 NBA championship, proving to be productive on the floor and a positive presence in the locker room — and now returns to Los Angeles to fortify the team's frontcourt. https://t.co/KAOzRiZkof
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 2, 2021
Howard played a huge factor throughout the season in the Los Angeles Lakers’ championship run and he was pretty close to re-signing with the team in the offseason, even tweeting that he’d be back before quickly deleting it.
This will be Dwight’s third stint at the STAPLES Center after two one-year tenures in the past. The first didn’t exactly come to the best of ends, but that’s clearly water under the bridge right now.
Throughout the season, the former Defensive Player of the Year averaged 7.0 points, 8.4 rebounds, 0.9 assists, and 0.9 blocks per game on 58.7% from the floor and 17.3 minutes per game, serving primary as Joel Embiid’s backup but also sliding into the starting lineup in a handful of games.
While Howard is no longer the dominant two-way force he once was, his veteran presence and ability to lockdown both ends of the glass will come in pretty handy for a Lakers team that lacked size at times last year.
Rob Pelinka has made some pretty big moves over the past couple of hours, and it seems like the Lakers are far from done.
