Dwight Howard was part of that title-winning 2019-20 Los Angeles Lakers team and on multiple occasions, has expressed his disappointment about that squad being quickly broken up. So, when Lakers governor Jeanie Buss appeared on Howard’s Above The Rim with DH 12 podcast, the topic of that team being split came up.
Dwight Howard: “I was sad I wanted to come back and I don’t know what had happened.”
Jeanie Buss: “You took an offer from the Philadelphia 76ers.”
Howard: “No, I think that we were just told so many different things and I think now looking back on it with the situation that I had with my agent and him actually getting convicted and being a part of the whole crime.”
Buss: “It was the same guy?”
Howard: “He was a part of it, yeah. The same agent.”
Buss: “Oh that makes a little more sense.”
Howard: “So, I don’t even know what the truth was because what I was told was that you guys didn’t have an offer for me.”
Buss: “Oh no, that’s not true. We made an offer.”
Howard: “I never even know that… Well, actually he said you guys had an offer and then he said you guys took the offer back.”
Buss: “No, it’s all about the salary cap and the timing because you have to get accepted offers when you have the cap space… They call it timing of how the contracts go.”
Howard: “I was hurt because I felt like the team that we had was going to be back together again. I thought that I had did something wrong. I thought there was something and JaVale (McGee) as well because he said that after that season he didn’t get a contract, he didn’t come back.”
Buss: “From us, he got another contract. He did… I think he signed a three-year deal somewhere.”
Howard: “Oh no, he said. Well, I don’t know.”
Buss: “I know, you have to look back at it.”
Howard: “It’s just I wish we would have had a chance to run it back.”
Buss: “I know.”
Howard: “Do you feel like if we would have kept the team together, we’d have won a couple of championships?”
Buss: “I think so. I feel when you win a championship, that’s when you give the guys a chance to defend their title and it just you know (Rajon) Rondo left. He got a deal somewhere. I don’t know if Danny (Green), did we trade Danny Green or did he get signed as a free agent?”
Howard: “I think he got…”
Buss: “If we’re going to have this conversation, we should have all the facts straight instead of guessing what it was. But once there was like three or four guys not coming back, then it wasn’t the same anyway.”
Buss did misremember a bit here. While Rajon Rondo indeed decided he wanted to go elsewhere, that wasn’t the case with JaVale McGee and Danny Green. McGee was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers to give the Lakers room to sign Marc Gasol while Green was shipped out to the Oklahoma City Thunder to acquire Dennis Schroder.
So, I think it’s fair to say the Lakers split that team because they felt they could get even better. Unfortunately for them, things didn’t quite work out the way they’d hoped and one wonders how differently things would have panned out had they run it back.
While that 2020 title often gets discredited because it was won in the Bubble, there is no denying that the Lakers had a great team back then. They finished at the top of the pile in the West with a 53-19 record and lost just three games on their way to the NBA Finals. The Lakers beat the Miami Heat in six games in the Finals to win their 17th title in dominant fashion.
Thank you for being a valued reader of Fadeaway World. If you liked this article, please consider following us on Google News. We really appreciate your support.
