Los Angeles Lakers: Dwight Howard’s impact in a surprising resurgent season

LeBron James and Anthony Davis have been the key contributors for the Los Angeles Lakers, but Dwight Howard’s massive impact has slotted him as their third option.

This year, we’ve seen a massive resurgence in the Los Angeles Lakers, a team that struggled to even reach 37 wins last season. But after a massive offseason, the Lakers have done a complete 180 and have become the best team in the Western Conference at the moment. They obtained some key pieces in Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins, Danny Green and Dwight Howard.

Anthony Davis was a huge signing and he’s proved himself to be a dominant sidekick alongside Lebron, flourishing for a contender, unlike his previous position in New Orleans. But, let’s talk about someone who’s made just as big as an impact as Davis, let’s talk about Dwight Howard.

After missing most of the 2018-19 NBA season with a persistent glute injury, Dwight Howard was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies before getting waived. At that point, Howard was dead in the water, most teams regarded him as a lost cause, but one team saw treasure where others saw trash, the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Lakers signed Dwight Howard to a one-year, $2.56 million contract in late August.

At the time, the Lakers seemed desperate for a big-man to slot into the team, after one of their offseason signings, DeMarcus Cousins, tore an ACL in his knee.

The future was looking worrying for the Los Angeles Lakers, who fans believed, that Howard was a huge downgrade. But, boy were they wrong. Dwight Howard has become one of the saviours of the Lakers franchise, whether you like it or not.

Though he isn’t playing like his prime days like in Orlando, Dwight Howard has become a key role off the bench for the Lakers in their dominant first half of the season. ‘Superman’ as he was once famously dubbed, has also stuffed the stat-sheet, certifying himself as the most efficient big-men off the bench this season:

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/20/2020.

The Lakers have done a fantastic job of pairing Howard with the golden boy, Anthony Davis, becoming a frightening pairing.

But his real duo has been with fellow big-man, Javale McGee. This tandem duo with Howard and McGee has been truly frightening for the league and has been one of the key successes for the Lakers. In fact, the duo has become one of the most impressive big-man duo in the NBA at the moment, after all, being one of the reasons why your team is 41-12 should earn you some brownie points.

Ever since departing Orlando, we’ve never seen that Howard who was constantly competing for a competitive and feared contender. Howard was supposed to be one of the key pieces alongside the late Kobe Bryant in his last stint for the Lakers back in the 2012-13 NBA season. That season deserves to be completely forgotten from all memory because it was an absolute stinker.

This year has been the ultimate revenge for Howard, after he served forgettable runs for Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte and Washington. After a while, the expectation of Howard returning to his superstar level slowly slipped away, fans eventually turned on him.

But from what we’ve seen in the first 53 games of the Dwight Howard experiment in Los Angeles, it’s been a massive success for the Lakers franchise. He’s no longer the Superman that we knew and loved back in Orlando, but he’s officially become Jimmy Olsen, an effective sidekick for the main attraction.

Whether you like it or not, Dwight Howard is finally back in his purest form and he’s helping the Los Angeles Lakers become the most feared team in the NBA at the moment.

Stop the Howard slander, let’s tune in and become witnesses of the resurrection of Dwight Howard.