Over the course of three different stays, there have been many ups and downs in the Dwight Howard and Lakers relationship.
It was a roller coaster between his first stint, which was the lowest point, and the Lakers winning a championship, which was the highest point.
The Lakers decided to move on with younger bigs after a turbulent season last year that wasn’t all Dwight’s fault and the big man showing very clear signs of decline.
Dwight decided to sign with the Taoyuan Leopards in Taiwan rather than an NBA franchise, a choice he had only recently made.
However, before that happened, Dwight spoke with Shannon Sharpe of Fox Sports 1 on his podcast Club Shay Shay about his time in Los Angeles and mentioned that he intended to move back there for this season.
“I’ve been willing to go back. They told me every time ‘We’re not going to give nobody over 30 a multiple-year contract.’ I was like ‘Dang, I just helped ya’ll win an NBA championship. Ya’ll can give your boy a (million) or two, or give me a (million). I don’t want a whole bunch of minutes. Give me 20 minutes and let me ball out.’”
Strangely, Dwight goes on to claim that the Lakers sought some sort of retaliation because he left the team in 2013, even though he makes an effort to walk that claim back after he says it. This comes after he helped the Lakers win a championship in 2020.
Additionally, he claims that the incident on the sidelines with Anthony Davis at the beginning of last season was exaggerated, which damaged his reputation and prevented organisations from signing him as a result.
It’s a pretty strange section of the interview, but it also demonstrates Dwight’s persistent lack of self-awareness over the course of his career.
The 20 minutes each game he requests would be more than he has averaged during his previous three seasons.
He achieved the milestone while playing for Washington in 2018–19, however he only appeared in nine games.
To find a season in Charlotte where he played an average of more than 20 minutes per game for the entire year, you’d have to look back to 2017–18.
Last year, it was fairly obvious that Dwight no longer possessed it physically.
He was barely able to manage the task that was expected of him on a nightly basis, much less increase it to 20 minutes.
If Dwight is to be believed, the other interesting takeaway from this is that the Lakers won’t provide multi-year contracts to guys older than 30.
Given that it doesn’t make sense to provide him or the many ageing role players they were giving multi-year contracts to, the team most likely did inform Dwight of this in some fashion.
I wouldn’t say it’s a strict guideline the team follows, primarily because I don’t believe everything Dwight says.
Dwight finds it difficult to see the writing on the wall when it comes to his career, much like many other NBA great before him and those who will follow.
With addition to appreciating his contribution to a championship squad, Lakers supporters can also be relieved that his time in the purple and gold has come to a close.
