Former Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard revealed what went into his decision to leave the Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe Bryant following the 2012-13 season.
The Lakers made a four-team trade for Howard prior to the 2012-13 season, shipping out Andrew Bynum to the Philadelphia 76ers in the deal. The Denver Nuggets and obviously the Orlando Magic (Howard’s old team) were also involved in the deal.
“When I left L.A., I feel like I made a emotional decision,” Howard said. “I didn’t really sit down and make a logical decision about everything I was doing because I was so pissed off. N—-, I just played from a back surgery. That’s the worst surgery you could have in life, damn near. It’s a surgery in your back ’cause one little move you could get paralyzed – the wrong move from the doctors, it’s over with. And so, I’m having this surgery thinking that, ‘OK, you know what, I just had this crazy s— just happen in Orlando, I’m finna come out to L.A., hoop with Kobe and I’mma kill and then we gon’ be right back at it.’ But, it didn’t happen like that.
“And I got all the blame. So, I’m like, ‘Man, I gotta get the f— outta here. I can’t stay here. Why would I stay here? These people mad at me and I just damn came back from having back surgery and I had a torn labrum.’ I ain’t even have surgery for the torn labrum. I just said, ‘You know what, I’mma thug this s— out. I’mma play through this torn labrum.’”
The Lakers finished with a 45-37 record in the 2012-13 season, but they lost in the first round of the playoffs. Howard left the franchise in the offseason, joining the Houston Rockets, where he spent the next three seasons of his NBA career.
During the 2012-13 season, Howard made the All-Star team and appeared in 76 games for the Lakers. He averaged 17.1 points and an NBA-best 12.4 rebounds per game. The three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year also was named to an All-NBA team that season.
It certainly seems that Howard felt he received unfair criticism in his first stint with the Lakers, and unfortunately Los Angeles didn’t really recover in the aftermath of his departure.
The Lakers didn’t make the playoffs again until the 2019-20 NBA season when they won the NBA Finals. Ironically, Howard was a key part of that team.
The center ended up returning to Los Angeles for the 2019-20 season, playing alongside Anthony Davis and LeBron James. Howard appeared in 69 games during that regular season and averaged 7.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game. He finished ninth in the voting for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award.
After the title, Howard left Los Angeles again, this time for the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2020-21 season. He did return to the Lakers again, though, playing with them in the 2021-22 campaign. Howard has not played in the NBA since.
The combination of Howard and Bryant was expected to bring a title to Los Angeles, but instead he ended up doing it later in his career in a much smaller role. Lakers fans certainly should appreciate Howard for what he contributed to the franchise during his NBA career.
