The Lakers apparently didn’t beg enough, because they just lost their big free-agent center to the Houston Rockets.
After 20 months of twists and turns in the Dwight Howard saga, a person with knowledge of his decision told USA TODAY Sports he will join the Houston Rockets.
The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because his decision had not yet been announced.
After being traded from the Orlando Magic to the Los Angeles Lakers in a four-team deal a year ago, Howard entered the summer unsure of what he might do because of the awful Lakers season that had unfolded.
My initial reaction is THANK F’ING GOD THIS F’ING MESS IS OVER!!!
Seriously, Dwight Howard has been such an ass throughout this whole thing, I feel like I should apologize to LeBron James for only holding a televised special.
Howard obviously makes the Rockets better. He also has the potential be a disruptive mess. But he’s going to a team coached by one of the best big men of all time in Kevin McHale, and he just so happens to have another of the greatest big men of all time, Hakeem Olajuwon, in the neighborhood. So it could be really good for him. And pairing him with James Harden is going to be fun to watch.
Meanwhile, the Lakers got nothing out of their trade with Orlando. He was supposed to be the future of that franchise. And the Lakers losing out on an attention-hungry center is just so odd. It’s shocking, really. They never lose guys like this.
As of right now, the Lakers have ONE guy under contract for the 2014-15 season: Steve Nash. They’ve got $50 million to build a team from scratch. Welcome to rebuilding, LA.
And one last note: assuming Andrew Bynum is gone from Philly, Orlando emerges from the big Dwight Howard trade as the big winner. People laughed at Rob Hennigan when it all went down, but he not only got good players and got rid of a headache, all the other teams lost their centerpieces in this deal (Andre Iguodala committed to Golden State this afternoon).
Enjoy Dwight, Houston. They’ll be a fun team to watch (I’ll have more fun watching the Warriors, though). But honestly, I’m just glad we won’t have this Dwightmare business to deal with anymore.
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