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After making a contract buyback with the Memphis Grizzlies, Dwight Howard will sign an unsecured contract with the Los Angeles Lakers with a clear message, league sources told ESPN: Disorganize this team – and you'll be gone.
In meetings with the Lakers leadership, coaches and their teammates – including Anthony Davis – this weekend, Howard has sold himself eight times as a star player who had bottomed in the words of a source of the team, and promised that he would humbly accept the responsibility to bounce back and block the shots for the Lakers.
He showed the Lakers that his surgically repaired back was healthy and that he had lost 10 pounds to be in better condition. The Lakers eventually opted instead of Joakim Noah, sources said.
DeMarcus's Cousins were likely lost for the season with a torn left ACL, and Davis reluctant to play significant minutes in the center, the Lakers and Howard found themselves in need of a reunion. a failed partnership that lasted a long time in 2012-2013. season.
For years, Howard has sold an almost annual idea of a personal revival and epiphany, to infuriate coaches and teammates whose behavior has shifted from selfish behavior on the ground to a childish and disruptive style. Since signing with the Atlanta Hawks as a free agent in 2016, Howard has been traded three times and waived twice. The Lakers will be his sixth team in five years – far from appearances with the stars and defensive teams with Orlando and Houston.
The Lakers will have a leverage on Howard, able to reduce it before the January 7 NBA deadline to guarantee contracts for the season at no cost to the team. The arrival of Howard moves the Lakers' lineup to 15 players. His contract buyback with the Grizzlies – who acquired it in a Washington trade between the off season – will require him to obtain waivers next week before signing with Los Angeles.
The Lakers will be Howard's fifth team since signing as a free agent in Atlanta in 2016. He played with the Hawks, Charlotte and Washington – and was suspended after trading in Brooklyn and Memphis without ever wearing a uniform. He played only nine games with Washington before his back surgery ended his season.
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