Los Angeles Lakers: How Dwight Howard, Steve Nash Will Ruin the Lakers’ Future



As Dwight Howard, the Center Formerly Known as Superman, prepares to take the tipoff against the Dallas Mavericks tonight, we should look at how the Los Angeles Lakers arrived here and where they will be in two years.

Winless in preseason, the Lakers are entering the regular season on a bad foot—literally. Kobe Bryant is day-to-day with a foot injury and Iron Man (Howard's new nickname) is still recovering from his surgically-repaired back. Not the way Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak envisioned things when he wheeled and dealed to land Howard and Steve Nash. He should get used to this feeling because it's only going to get worse as the years go on.

ESPN.com reported that NBA GMs voted that the Lakers had the best offseason, but in order to get Nash in the sign-and-trade with Phoenix, the Lakers had to give up first-round picks in 2013 and 2015 and second-round picks in 2013 and 2014. They also lost Andrew Bynum and their 2017 first-round selection for Howard. 

Two-time league MVP Steve Nash is obviously an enormous upgrade from Ramon Sessions, who left by way of free agency, and the four-team megatrade that brought Howard in solidifies Pau Gasol’s position at the 4 and sets up some serious height in downtown LA, rivaled only by the U.S. Bank Tower and Aon Center. As hyperbolic as that may sound, there is nothing extreme about the fact that the Lakers have essentially diminished their chances of winning in the long run.

Howard will test the market when he becomes a free agent next season—and all Laker fans should be aware that he recently told ESPN he originally wanted to be traded to the Brooklyn Nets. Nash is only signed for the next three seasons, and according to Sporting News, Kobe Bryant has said he plans to retire after the 2013-14 season, which is notably the final year of Gasol’s contract.

Assuming Howard does sign a contract extension with the La...

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