Sources: Howard to hitch Lakers with stern caveat
After finishing a contract buyout with the Memphis Grizzlies, Dwight Howard will signal a non-guaranteed contract with the Los Angeles Lakers that comes with a transparent message, league sources advised ESPN: Disrupt this group — and you will be gone.
In conferences with Lakers administration, coaches and teammates — together with Anthony Davis — late this week, Howard bought himself as an eight-time All-Star who had hit “all-time low,” within the phrases of 1 group supply, and promised that he’d humbly settle for the duty to rebound and block pictures for the Lakers.
He confirmed the Lakers that his surgically repaired again was wholesome and that he had misplaced 25 kilos to get into higher situation, and in the end the Lakers selected him over Joakim Noah, sources stated.
With DeMarcus Cousins possible misplaced for the season with a torn ACL in his left knee, and Davis reticent to play important minutes at middle, the Lakers and Howard discovered themselves needing one another for a reunion of a miscast partnership that fizzled within the 2012-2013 season.
For years, Howard has bought an virtually annual concept of a private renaissance and epiphany, solely to infuriate coaches and teammates with conduct that moved from egocentric on the courtroom to infantile and disruptive off of it. Since signing with the Atlanta Hawks as a free agent in 2016, Howard has been traded thrice and waived twice. The Lakers will probably be his sixth group in 5 years — removed from the All-Star and All-Defensive Crew appearances with Orlando and Houston.
The Lakers will maintain the leverage on Howard, in a position to reduce him previous to the NBA’s Jan. 7 deadline to ensure contracts for the season with out price to the group. Howard’s arrival strikes the Lakers’ roster to a full 15 gamers. His contract buyout with the Grizzlies — who acquired him in an offseason commerce from Washington — would require him to clear waivers subsequent week earlier than signing with Los Angeles.
The Lakers will probably be Howard’s fifth group since signing as a free agent in Atlanta in 2016. He has performed with the Hawks, Charlotte and Washington — and been waived after trades to Brooklyn and Memphis with out ever sporting a uniform. He performed solely 9 video games with Washington earlier than again surgical procedure ended his season.