Lakers Get Positive Update Regarding Dwight Howard

It’s still uncertain if Dwight Howard will be joining the Los Angeles Lakers in Orlando later this month, but the team receive an encouraging sign this week.

Howard was on a team Zoom call earlier this week, giving the Lakers added hope that the big man is planning to take part in the NBA restart, per Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times.

Lakers head coach Frank Vogel also expressed optimism when speaking about Howard with reporters on Wednesday.

“We’ve been in communication with Dwight the whole way with the support of phone calls and text messages and we don’t know what the level of participation is going to be yet,” Vogel said. “He wants to play. We are hopeful that he’s able to join us. He has an extenuating circumstance that he’s working with the league on in terms of what that’s ultimately going to look like. We’re hopeful that optimistic that he’ll be able to join us in Orlando.

“We don’t have any intention of replacing Dwight’s roster spot when we believe he’ll hopefully be able to join us.”

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Dwight Howard Dealing With Loss of Son’s Mother

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka mentioned in an earlier press conference that Howard had “extenuating circumstance” surrounding his return. Pelinka is referring to the mother of Howard’s six-year-old son, Melissa Rios, who passed away at 31.

“Dwight is another player of ours who has an extenuating circumstance in addition to some of the social justice messaging he’s been doing, which we’re supportive of. One of his sons, a 6-year-old son, did lose tragically his mother several weeks ago,” Pelinka said. “We have been working very closely, and I’ve been in contact with Dwight often and his agent. As you guys know, there was an opt out date that Dwight did not give notice that he was opting out. We’re going to continue to work through those extenuating circumstances with Dwight, support him, support his 6-year-old son and hope for the best that he’d be a part of our roster in Orlando. But that will be a continued process.”

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Lakers Sign J.R. Smith to Step in for Avery Bradley

Avery Bradley is one member of the Lakers who has made it known he will not be in Orlando, opting instead to stay behind to be with his family. The Lakers signed veteran J.R. Smith to replace Bradley, making it official on Wednesday.

“We’re not asking him to come in and be Avery Bradley,” Lakers head coach Vogel said. “He’s going to come in and be J.R. Smith.”

Fan-favorite Alex Caruso and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope will likely see an uptick in minutes as well.

“Avery’s loss is obviously a huge loss for us, but we’re a next-man-up team,” Vogel said. “Alex [Caruso] is an elite defender in his own right in a different way than Avery, as is [Kentavious Caldwell-Pope]. Offensively, clearly we wouldn’t run plays that Avery uses for Alex, we’d run plays that put Alex in the best position to succeed.”

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