Dwight Howard Felt His 2012 Lakers Run Was Doomed After Mike D’Antoni Hiring Over Phil Jackson

There was palpable excitement in LA when the Lakers traded for Dwight Howard in 2012. He was a superstar center, who arrived from the Magic a few years after leading them to the NBA Finals. The similarities between his arrival and Shaquille O’Neal’s signing with the team in 1996 were uncanny. However, unlike the Hall of Famer, who led the franchise to three championships, Howard left after one year, earning the ire of fans and his former teammates. 11 years later, he has finally explained why he bailed on the team.

On the latest episode of Above The Rim With DH 12, Howard explained to Lakers owner Jeanie Buss that he was excited about playing under Phil Jackson, who was rumored to return to the team in 2012. However, the team hired head coach Mike D’Antoni, whose tactical approach wasn’t suited to get the best out of the center. He said,

“I had talked to [Phil Jackson] on the phone. He was like he wanted to coach me. When I heard that, even now I’m getting chills… Two days later [the Lakers] signed [Mike D’Antoni] and I was like, ‘I don’t know if this is going to go well for me.'”

Howard loved the idea of Phil Jackson coaching him. The 11-time championship-winning head coach had led the Lakers to five titles and had a penchant for using centers to great effect.

He initially retired in 2011 and the Lakers hired Mike Brown as his successor. However, his implementation of a Princeton-styled offense was a failure and the team fired him after just five games into his second season.

The Lakers reached out to Jackson once more to return as head coach. He asked for two days to consider the offer, which the Lakers granted. However, they did not wait for a response from the legendary head coach and hired Mike D’Antoni whose philosophy catered to Steve Nash instead of Howard.

Buss revealed the franchise made a conscious decision to prioritize getting the best out of the veteran guard over Howard. Under D’Antoni in Phoenix, he had won back-to-back MVP awards in 2005 and 2006 and the Lakers felt the coach and the star could rekindle that magic in LA. She said,

“We had Steve Nash on the team. So they reunited what they had done in Phoenix. Cleary the the choice was to go all-in on Steve instead of what would work best for you.”

Nash played only 50 games in the 2012-13 season and was a shell of the player he once was. Howard, who endured a tough season, decided to take his talents to Houston and joined the Rockets, which was a massive blow to the Lakers. It made his already tumultuous relationship with Kobe Bryant even worse.

Bryant and Howard didn’t see eye-to-eye

As exciting as everyone else was about Howard joining the Lakers, the center wasn’t keen on joining the team. In an appearance on the Gil’s Arena podcast, the three-time Defensive Player of the Year explained he wasn’t mentally prepared to play on the team that beat him and the Magic in the 2009 NBA Finals nor was he ready to shoulder the expectation of becoming the ‘new Shaq.’ He said,

“And I’m just coming off an injury, I’m still dealing with all the mental shit from Orlando and now I got to go to L.A. and I’m playing with Kobe Bryant. I watched him play, they beat us in the Finals. One, I was already pissed because I had to go to L.A. and nobody ever knew I didn’t want to go to L.A.”

Bryant and Howard never spoke about their issues when they were teammates but there were reports about friction between the two, which only worsened after the center left the team. The two finally came to blows in 2014 during a game between the Lakers and Rockets, where the Hall of Fame guard and Howard aired their feelings about each other in an explosive back-and-forth.

Bryant and the center were an amazing pairing on paper. However, the Lakers prioritizing Steve Nash and Howard’s state of mind at the time meant they could never become the potent duo many believed they would be.