Dwight Howard is an interesting figure in the lore of the Los Angeles Lakers as he went from a despised figure to a beloved one after his contributions to the 2020 Championship.
Howard’s first stint with the Lakers was full of drama and ended with an unceremonious exit, though he redeemed himself when he came back for a second time accepting a reduce role. After a year away from the team, the former All-Star returned to Los Angeles for a third time though that ended in failure as they failed to make the postseason.
Since then, Howard’s been spending his time in Taiwan dominating with his team the Taoyuan Leopards. Despite being overseas, Howard’s popped back up in the news as he’s been recruiting players to come play with him.
Aside from his pitches to star players, Howard also recently expressed a desire to end his longstanding feud with Shaquille O’Neal, via via Run it Back on FanDuel:
“For years I said it, I don’t have any beef with Shaq… I want everybody to enjoy life, I don’t have no beef with anyone. The ‘me and Shaq’ thing, I don’t know what it is. If we gotta go to dinner, if we gotta come on this show and have a discussion – whatever it is… We gettin’ older… let’s squash whatever beef we got, whatever it is, and just keep it pushing.”
O’Neal has not been too kind when discussing Howard in the past and a lot of it is unwarranted considering Howard hasn’t done much to stoke any flames. O’Neal seems to still be upset about Howard taking his ‘Superman’ moniker during his playing days, though that seems like something that could be let go at this point.
Drama between Lakers big men is a tradition in its own as O’Neal has also had an icy relationship with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Abdul-Jabbar was critical of O’Neal early on in the latter’s career, though the two recently had a sit down to clear the air and discuss the tension.
Perhaps a similar kind of setting could be coordinated between Howard and O’Neal though that remains to be seen.
Dwight Howard shares details about failed negotiations to return to Los Angeles in 2020
Shortly after winning the 2020 title, Howard expressed a desire to return to the Lakers. However, the front office seemed uninterested in bringing him back and Howard revealed that they were unwilling to give him a multi-year contract due to his age.
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