After the Mark Williams trade fell through for the Los Angeles Lakers, fans and critics alike have pointed to center as being their weakest position. That is true considering that they were already thin prior to giving up Anthony Davis in the deal for Luka Doncic.
While any reasonable fan would have made that deal from the Lakers perspective 10 times out of 10, it took their already weak frontcourt and made it weaker. They have tried to improve that area, first by trading for Williams, only for that deal to be rescinded after he failed a physical.
Then they signed former Sacramento Kings big man Alex Len to give them more size. However, one player continues to be linked to the Lakers. Former NBA star and two-time Laker Dwight Howard has repeatedly come up in talks involving the Lakers even though he hasn't been directly linked to the team.
Howard ranks as one of the best defensive big men of the last 25 years, with him winning three Defensive Player of the Year awards and being a dominant rebounder during his heyday with the Orlando Magic. He later reinvented himself as a role player, even winning a championship in 2020 with the lakers. However, he is 39 years old and last played in the NBA back in 2021.
The Lakers continue to be linked to former All-Star center Dwight Howard.
Bringing Howard back would be a sign of desperation for Los Angeles, considering that there are plenty of younger options who would likely play just as well as Howard could. Probably better, in fact. Nevertheless, pundits such as ESPN's Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe continue to believe that he could help Los Angeles this season.
It is true that the Lakers need all the help they can get at center with them having to start Jaxson Hayes and also having to rely on players such as Len and Christian Koloko. Each of those players failed to impress at their most recent NBA stops.
But the Lakers will likely rely on center by committee with them using some combination of all three players. They may also go small and have Jared Vanderbilt or LeBron James play at the five as well.
Frankly, each option will probably be better than a 39-year-old Howard, who hasn't played at an NBA level in four years and is nearing 40 years old. Ultimately, the Lakers need more help as a center, but they will have to make do with what they have now.
That may put a ceiling on their season, with them unlikely to go all the way to the NBA Finals without a starting-caliber center. Be that as it may, with Doncic now in the fold, they can focus on the long term and will certainly put center at the top of their to-do list this summer, though it probably won't include Howard.