Dwight Howard Trade: What Does the Deal Really Mean for the Lakers?

We all have seen this sequel play out in the National Basketball Association once before.

A team goes out and signs a collection of superstars. Media and fans go overboard with predicting big things, only to be let down by a huge disappointment.

The Los Angeles Lakers, who signed former Phoenix Suns superstar point guard Steve Nash to a free-agent deal early in the summer, rolled the dice on Thursday. In a four-team trade, Los Angeles made a move and acquired six-time All-Star center Dwight Howard from the Orlando Magic.

Howard, a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, is the latest superstar big man to join the Lakers in quest of winning a title; joining Shaquille O'Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain as superstar centers who left their former teams to join the Lakers.

Each won a title with Los Angeles.

Although it's premature to even think that Howard will help Kobe Bryant win another NBA title, you can't help but like the Lakers' chances with Bryant, Howard and Nash on the same team.

We all know that a team with an overabundance of stars sometimes does not work out. Two memories in recent years come to mind. One of them involves Los Angeles.



The 2004 Lakers brought in Karl Malone and Gary Payton to join O'Neal and Bryant in hopes of leading the Lakers to their fourth title in five years. Fans around the country all but delivered the Larry O'Brien Trophy to Los Angeles before the season even started.

 

 

And although the Lakers won the Pacific Division and finished with the league's fourth-best record (56-26) that season, they failed to win it all when it mattered.

Los Angeles breezed its way through the playoffs (Houston, San Antonio and Minnesota) and made the finals. There, the Lakers met the Detroit Pistons.

The Pistons, who were swept in th...

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