The Los Angeles Lakers are in the market for a center after DeMarcus Cousins suffered a torn ACL in his left knee last week that will threaten to sideline him for the season.
With just JaVale McGee and Anthony Davis on the roster as potential candidates to play the five, it was assumed the Lakers would begin poking around at possible signings to fill roster depth, and one name that many floated somewhat jokingly was former Laker Dwight Howard. Given how his tenure in L.A. went last time, few thought he would actually be considered, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and in terms of on-court production, when healthy, Howard might be the best available center left on the market.
On Sunday, from Shams Charania reported that the two sides had shared interest, but there was one issue. The Memphis Grizzlies technically hold Howard’s rights, as they traded C.J. Miles for him this summer, and while most have anticipated a buyout for Howard, nothing has been worked out yet. Later on Sunday, Charania followed up his initial report with an update that Memphis had given L.A. permission to talk with Howard and start working towards a deal with the big man.
The Grizzlies are granting the Los Angeles Lakers permission to speak with Dwight Howard, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 18, 2019
The question is how this will all go down. It’s possible, given that the Lakers have 15 guaranteed contracts on the roster, that they could acquire Howard via a trade, although that seems unlikely since he makes $5.6 million this year, meaning they can’t simply match that with a minimum deal. Whatever the case, it seems to be a very real possibility that a Howard reunion with the Lakers could be on the horizon, which seemed all but impossible a few years back with how everything went down.
