Dwight Howard went on a redemption challenge in 2019-20, signing with the Los Angeles Lakers six years after leaving L.A. in awkward cases.
Howard first joined the Lakers in the summertime of 2012, arriving by way of business to staff up with Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol — and two-time MVP Steve Nash, who had moved to L.A. a month previous. But regardless of prime hopes for the star-studded Purple and Gold, the staff by no means reached the predicted stage of efficiency because of accidents and a loss of chemistry.
The large guy fell out with Bryant and in the end left for the Houston Rockets all over the 2013 unfastened company, however the three-time Defensive Player of the Year would by no means get again to his dominant self. The former No. 1 pick out in the end reunited with the Lakers in 2019 to assist them win the franchise’s seventeenth NBA championship amid the raging coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Howard redeemed himself that season, however the middle says his comeback began off on a sour be aware. In an look on Showtime’s “All the Smoke” podcast, the eight-time All-Star stated he didn’t obtain a heat welcome from Lakers legend and present basketball adviser Kurt Rambis:
Dwight Howard: “I really told nobody this story, I remember, except my close people. Going back to the Lakers and trying to get a job the second time with them, and meeting with the GM — it’s probably about four or five players, Rondo, AD, couple more players. And Kurt says this to me, ‘You’re not Dwight Howard no more.’”
Matt Barnes: “Who said that?”
Dwight Howard: “Kurt. Kurt Rambis. He says ‘You’re not Dwight Howard no more and don’t expect to be Dwight Howard when you come to the team.’ And I’m like, damn, how are you not going to want me to be myself? And it really just hit me like, I just got to shut my mouth and do what I’m asked to do. And just not allow anything to affect me winning this championship. And that was real hard.”
Howard would go away the Lakers once more after the season and are available again for the 3rd time forward of the 2021-22 marketing campaign. But in the ones 3 separate stints with the Purple and Gold, he proved to be a real skilled, accepting each and every position former head trainer Frank Vogel presented him.
The middle’s tale provides to the rumors that Rambis — part of L.A.’s “four-pronged brain trust,” as Lakers governor Jeanie Buss put it — loved an dangerous quantity of energy inside the franchise.
New head trainer Darvin Ham was once reportedly promised that Rambis “wouldn’t be a regular presence in coaching meetings” like he was once all over Vogel’s ultimate season with the staff.
Howard remained with out a staff at the beginning of the 2022 preseason. And previous this 12 months, the middle mentioned his hopes of becoming a member of WWE one day — even if including he wasn’t able to surrender on basketball simply but.
Recently, WWE’s head of ingenious Paul Levesque, a.okay.a Triple H, stated the door is open for Howard to take a look at himself as a certified wrestler. But, Levesque added, it’s at the former Lakers middle to decide to the craft.
“When he says,’ Hey I want to give this a shot,’ he’s got my phone number. All he’s gotta do is call me, and we’ll see what can happen,” Triple H stated.
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