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Dwight Howard Asked Lakers For Non-Guaranteed Contract To Show His Commitment

The superteam that wasn’t! The Los Angeles Lakers started the 2012-13 NBA season as one of the top contenders after going all out in the offseason.

Steve Nash – Kobe Bryant – Metta World Peace – Pau Gasol – Dwight Howard

The starting lineup consisting of 5 NBA All-Stars was planned to be the counterpoint to the superteam in the East, the Miami Heat.

While the Heat ended up winning the title (rebound Bosh, back out to Allen, BAAANG…), the Lakers season ended early. The team never got it going, had to fight through injuries and dysfunctions among players – mainly the fights between Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard.

This Lakers superteam experiment ended after this sole season and Dwight Howard signed with the Houston Rockets.

6 years later, Dwight Howard is back in LA, wearing purple and gold. This time though, it seems to work out perfectly. The Lakers and Dwight Howard in 2019-20 are a great fit, not least due to Dwight Howard adapting his style and playing exactly how the Lakers need and want him to play.

Howard, who signed a one-year non guaranteed contract (his salary is non-guaranteed until Jan. 10.), was so committed, that the non guaranteed contract apparently was his idea. Ramona Shelburne revealed on “The Jump,” that it indeed was Howard and his agent that came up with the idea.

“I think with Dwight, it also goes back to why the Lakers signed that contract with him that way in the first place. Dwight asked for that. That was his idea. That wasn’t the Lakers saying ‘oh this is the only way we’ll do it.’ This was Dwight and his agent saying ‘yes, we’ll do non-guaranteed just to show you how committed we are to being this kind of player.’”