After a flurry of moves made by numerous teams around the league to start NBA free agency, the Los Angeles Lakers were relatively quiet, with Wesley Matthews agreeing to a deal being the team’s only transaction.
However, Dwight Howard created quite a stir by sending mixed signals with a premature tweet about returning to the Lakers.
That tweet from Howard was quickly deleted, as was a tweet from Shams Charania of The Athletic claiming that the three-time Defensive Player of the Year was returning to Los Angeles.
Charania promptly let it be known that there was no deal between the Lakers and Howard.
Update: Dwight Howard continues to consider all of his options. No deal done.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 21, 2020
As of right now, the Lakers will have JaVale McGee back on the roster after he exercised his player option for next season and will have Matthews in the fold for 2020-21 as well.
There remains a lot of uncertainty about Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Avery Bradley and Rajon Rondo. All three of these veterans have opted out of their contracts to secure their futures beyond next season.
Rondo is reportedly receiving strong interest from the Atlanta Hawks and Los Angeles Clippers while Bradley wants to remain with the Lakers but has drawn the interest of the Golden State Warriors.
Caldwell-Pope could land with the New York Knicks, who have a considerable amount of cap space and are willing to spend it.
As for Howard, the speculation has been that he isn’t drawing much interest around the league and may have to settle for the veteran’s minimum with the Lakers or elsewhere.
