• The 2012-13 Lakers were supposed to be a championship-winning superteam with Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Steve Nash, and Dwight Howard
• The team failed to achieve their goals and were first-round exits
• Howard and Nash never found chemistry on the court, highlighted by botched plays that would cause them to argue
The 2012-13 Lakers were the superteam that was going to dominate the NBA, as the team acquired Dwight Howard in his prime and an aging Steve Nash to put around Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. However, a lack of on-court synchronicity meant that Howard and Nash would never get along well on the court.
This is highlighted by one play where Nash gets trapped on the baseline as Howard stands in one spot and asks for the ball, something Nash couldn’t deliver to him. The pair got into an argument over the same on the court.
Steve Nash heated exchange with Dwight Howard
by u/valiidiix in nba
Nash averaged 12.7 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 6.7 assists that season and missed a career-high 32 games as he dealt with various injuries.
Howard looked like a shell of the player that won three consecutive DPOYs with the Orlando Magic, averaging 17.1 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks as the Lakers limped into the playoffs and were swept in the first round by eventual finalists, the San Antonio Spurs.
The Lakers Never Returned To Contention With Kobe Bryant
The 2012-13 season marked the end of what would be Kobe’s competitive window in the NBA. After winning titles in 2009 and 2010, the Lakers had fallen short with Bryant and Gasol in 2011 and 2012 as teams like the Mavericks, and Thunder emerged ahead of the purple and gold franchise.
Howard would leave the Lakers after one season while Nash stuck around till 2015 but was barely in playing shape by the end of his tenure.
Kobe started to become injury-plagued after this season, missing the 2013 Playoffs due to a torn Achilles. They would never return to the playoffs with Kobe again, as the Lakers missed the postseason from 2014 onwards until LeBron James brought them back to the playoffs in 2020.
Kobe’s era ended with a whimper, but the superteam with Howard, Nash, Gasol, and him was the Lakers’ final attempt at giving their homegrown hero a chance at a sixth NBA title.
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