One of the men who orchestrated the trade to bring Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers says that the Houston Rockets centre was never really a part of the franchise.
Team president Jim Buss was speaking to the Hollywood Reporter for a feature on the current state of the NBA’s premier teams when he said of Howard, “He was never really a Laker. He was just passing through.”
Buss played a key role in the four-way trade that brought Howard to Los Angeles in the summer of 2012 before seeing him depart for Houston in free agency this summer.
When longtime Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss passed away earlier this year, he left his son Jim in charge of personnel decisions while daughter Jeanie managed the business side of the company.
She feels as if her father were still alive, Howard would have remained a Laker.
“It’s disappointing that Dwight isn’t here,” she says. “I feel like we failed him.”
