Dwight Howard Rejoins Lakers, Rejuvenated And Revitalized As He Tries To Redeem Himself

Dwight Howard is the latest player to join the Los Angeles Lakers. He has already met a few times with the team.

“I know it’s a narrative,” Howard said (in 2018). “I know it’s a story. And I know it was someone else’s opinion that started it. And then it’s just something that kept going.”

Howard spent a season with the Lakers.

“I lost confidence in who I am as a player,” Howard said (in 2017). “I’d hear people say, ‘You should play more like Shaq,’ so I tried to bully guys. But that didn’t work because I’m not as big as Shaq. Then I’d hear people say, ‘You smile too much, you should be more like Kobe,’ so I tried to put on a mean face and play mad. But I wound up getting all these stupid techs and flagrant fouls.”

He knows how things work.

“I changed up everything around me,” Howard said (in 2016). “I hold myself more accountable in certain situations. I try to be a better man, a better father, a better teammate. I know a lot of the stuff that’s been said about me that I can’t really control and has been false, but at the same time, I just want to show this city who I really am and show my teammates what kind of teammate I am.

“Stuff will change. I’m on a great team, got a lot of great guys in this locker room, great coaching staff and they’re going to hold me accountable for everything. It’s something I want to have. I want to be held accountable. I want my teammates and my coaches to push me to be the best that I can be.”

Howard’s durability is a question mark, but he lost 25 pounds and the Lakers say his back is healthy.

“I want to make sure my body is right,” Howard said (in his famous “Inside the NBA” interview during the 2016 playoffs). “I want to change that perception that I don’t really take this game serious. Because this is my life. I’ve been doing it since I was three years old. And I want to win. That’s why I play this game. And I don’t want to finish my career and not be up on that podium.”

ESPN’s Zach Lowe said that Hawks players had a specific opinion when Atlanta traded him because, “Dwight would give these speeches before the game about how everyone is playing hard, we want unity and then go out and play like a blahgame where he demands post touches and doesn’t rotate as hard as he could. And everyone is like, ‘Well, why are you speaking in the locker room?'”

“To be honest, it has been a little tough,” Howard said (in 2015). “I sat back and analyzed everything, and [Hall of Fame Rockets center] Elvin Hayes called me one day. He said, ‘For this team to win, you really have to make that ultimate sacrifice.’ I didn’t quite get it at first, but I think I really understand it now better than before.

“It’s not like I haven’t done it in the past, but this year is a little different. That sacrifice for me is going to come on the offensive end. It’s the thing I saw Wilt [Chamberlain] do when he got his championship with the Lakers [in 1972]. Wilt was known for scoring a lot of points, and when he played for that team that won the championship, he got other people open shots, did whatever he could to make everybody better. He got that trophy.”

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