NBA Player Dwight Howard Set To Sign With The Lakers Again
After Lakers center DeMarcus Cousins’ injury, the Los Angeles Lakers has been looking for a replacement and it looks like it’s going to be a familiar face: Dwight Howard.
As some may remember, Dwight left the Lakers as a free agent in 2013 and now he’s set to sign another contract with the franchise.
ESPN reports:
After completing a contract buyout with the Memphis Grizzlies, Dwight Howard will sign a non-guaranteed contract with the Los Angeles Lakers that comes with a clear message, league sources told ESPN: Disrupt this team — and you’ll be gone.
In meetings with Lakers management, coaches and teammates — including Anthony Davis — late this week, Howard sold himself as an eight-time All-Star who had hit “rock bottom,” in the words of one team source, and promised that he’d humbly accept a lesser role of rebounding and blocking shots for the Lakers.
He showed the Lakers that his surgically repaired back is healthy and that he has lost 25 pounds to get into better condition, and ultimately the Lakers chose him over Joakim Noah, sources said.
With DeMarcus Cousins probably lost for the season because of a torn ACL in his left knee, and Davis reluctant to play significant minutes at center, the Lakers and Howard found themselves needing each other for a reunion of a miscast partnership that fizzled in the 2012-13 season.
Memphis officially waived Dwight on Saturday and he will surrender $2.6 million of his $5.6 million guaranteed salary to Memphis in the buyout, league sources said. He can earn back the $2.6 million on his veteran’s minimum deal with the Lakers — if he stays on the roster beyond Jan. 7.
