Well, not so much.
There are just two months remaining until the Lakers open their season, and there still is no clear answer about whether Howard's back will be healthy enough to suit up.
Howard underwent the surgery in April to repair a herniated disk and has been slower than expected in his recovery. Because of the strange nature of back injuries, no one can definitively put an answer on when we'll see Howard on the court again.
For the Lakers, this shouldn't come as a shock. The team knew about Howard's surgery and signed off on trading for him.
Nevertheless, for a team that was supposed to challenge the Miami Heat for the 2013 NBA championship, this uncertainty has to be stressful.
With that in mind, here's a look at a few moves the Lakers could pull off if Howard has to miss extended regular season time.
Start Pau Gasol at Center, Extend His Minutes
We know that Gasol can excel at the center position, having done so multiple times in his Lakers tenure when Andrew Bynum was down with injury. However, part of bringing in Howard and a cavalcade of frontcourt depth was to lessen the 32-year-old's workload.
Gasol has played more than 37 minutes per game in each of his four full seasons in L.A., a rate that is wholly unsustainable for someone approaching their mid-30s. Extended minutes could come as a detriment late in the season, as Spain's silver-medal run in the Summer Olympics will undoubtedly cause some fatigue.
Nevertheless, Gasol will need his minutes if the Lakers hope to stick in the top tier of the Western Conference in Howard's absence.
The bright side of this situation is that if Howard's back i...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
