Lakers Champion Big Man Was ‘Highly Upset’ Not to be Re-Signed

A critical Los Angeles Lakers champion center was stunned when he wasn't retained the year after he led the club to the promised land.

In fairness, the Lakers did offer the eventual Hall of Famer a follow-up deal — before rescinding it.

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Former eight-time All-NBA big man Dwight Howard served three separate stints in L.A., during the 2012-13, 2019-20, and 2021-22 seasons. He was still at the tail end of his prime in 2012-13, and at the end of the year in free agency — despite the pleas of billboards begging him to stick around — he departed for a maximum contract with the Houston Rockets.

But in 2019-20, fresh off helping the LeBron James and Anthony Davis-led Lakers to a title as a rim-running reserve, Howard wasn't quite in as much demand.

Across 69 healthy regular season bouts with Los Angeles that season, the 6-foot-10 big man averaged 7.5 points on 72.9 percent shooting from the floor and 51.4 percent shooting from the charity stripe, 7.3 boards, 1.1 blocks and 0.7 assists in 18.9 minutes per, finishing ninth in Sixth Man of the Year voting.

In a new exclusive interview with longtime NBA insider Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson, Howard unpacked his awkward free agency during the subsequent 2020 offseason.

"I was told that there was a contract and then I was so happy that I heard I was coming back, I tweeted about it and my agent called me back and said, 'Hey. The Lakers took the contract off the table. You gotta take that tweet down.' I was like, ‘Damn! Why would they do that?’ and it really kind of messed with me because I’m like, 'I came in with the right attitude towards winning, not worried about points, rebounds… just worried about us winning another championship,'  and so many people made a big emphasis on me worrying about points and all that stuff which I think all players want to get out in the game and score and be effective," Howard said.

When the offer from Los Angeles went away, Howard pivoted, signing a one-season minimum deal to back up seven-time All-Star Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid.

"So, but I was highly upset that I didn’t get a chance to compete for a title defense because I believed that we had a special team and we had a window where we could’ve won and been to the NBA Finals multiple years," Howard asserted.

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After one year away, Howard was brought back to Los Angeles. He and Carmelo Anthony were two of the only past-their-prime veteran additions who actually worked out for the Lakers in 2021-22, as L.A. offloaded major championship equity for an aging Russell Westbrook and brought in several ancient pros around him. The Lakers finished with a 33-49 record and missed the postseason entirely.

With its James-Davis core, Los Angeles never again returned to the NBA Finals. The furthest the group got (albeit with a very different supporting cast) was a run to the Western Conference Finals as a No. 7 seed.

Davis was traded away to the Dallas Mavericks as the biggest contract moved in a blockbuster deal for five-time All-NBA First Team guard Luka Doncic, ushering in a new era for the Lakers.

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