DeMarcus Cousins suffered a torn ACL during a workout on Monday, and will likely miss the entirety of the upcoming season. The Los Angeles Lakers are left with JaVale McGee as the only healthy center on the roster, and they need to add another big guy because they don’t want to use Anthony Davis as a center.
According to Rohan Nadkarni of Sports Illustrated, the Lakers are pretty interested in bringing eight-time All-Star Dwight Howard to the Staples Center as Cousins’ injury left a void on the roster.
A name I’m hearing the Lakers are seriously interested in after the Boogie Cousins injury: Dwight Howard.
The Grizzlies haven’t bought him out yet, but he’s not expected to play in Memphis this season. Javale McGee is the only other center on LA’s roster.
— Rohan Nadkarni (@RohanNadkarni) August 17, 2019
Howard, who already played for the Lakers in their last playoff season in 2012-13, is currently under contract with the Memphis Grizzlies after this summer’s trade with the Washington Wizards. His contract for the 2019-20 campaign is worth $5.6 million, and Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Grizzlies are willing to trade or waive Howard.
The Grizzlies are trading CJ Miles to Washington for Dwight Howard, league source tells ESPN. Deal saves Memphis $3.1M. Grizzles will waive or trade Howard, per source.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 6, 2019
After leaving the Lakers in 2013, Howard has changed teams five times as he played for the Houston Rockets, Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Washington Wizards and now the Memphis Grizzlies. Howard appeared in just nine games for the Wizards before undergoing spinal surgery in November. However, he could be an essential part of the Lakers as Howard is a still double-double machine when healthy.
Howard admitted that he loves Los Angeles in a recent interview with Arash Markazi of the Los Angeles Times.
The Lakers did attempt to re-sign him as a free agent in 2013, but Howard joined the Houston Rockets instead, saying that “it just wasn’t the right fit for me at the time” to stay at Staples Center.
