Former Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard was in attendance for Friday night’s matchup between the Phoenix Suns and Lakers, and he and Suns star Kevin Durant engaged in some playful trash-talk.
Howard’s old team — the Lakers — won the game by seven points to improve to 2-0 on the season. Los Angeles has now started out a season by winning its first two games for the first time since the 2010-11 campaign, when the Lakers were on the heels of a title.
In Durant’s defense, Howard was at his most dominant as an NBA player when he played for the Orlando Magic. He spent the first eight seasons of his pro career in Orlando and earned six All-Star appearances in that time. Howard also won three Defensive Player of the Year awards with the Magic and guided the team to the 2009 NBA Finals.
But Howard played more regular-season games with the Lakers than any team outside of the Magic, and he had several stints with the squad. In his first L.A. stint, he was still an elite big man in the NBA. In the 2012-13 season, he averaged 17.1 points, 12.4 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 2.4 blocks per game while playing alongside aging stars like Kobe Bryant.
By the time he rejoined the Lakers ahead of the 2019-20 season, his days as one of the best centers in the NBA were behind him. Still, he produced as an interior scorer and rebounder across 69 games (two starts) with Los Angeles, and the team enjoyed a whole lot more collective success in the 2020 NBA Playoffs than it did in the 2013 NBA Playoffs.
Led by the likes of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers won their 17th title in franchise history in 2020. Howard suited up in 18 of the team’s 21 playoff contests.
He had one more stint with the Purple and Gold in the 2021-22 season, but it wasn’t as memorable, as the Lakers struggled that season and missed the playoffs.
However, all in all, fans of the Lakers have plenty of reasons to remember Howard’s years with the squad with fondness, even if he was at the height of his powers in Orlando.
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