Lakers News: Title-Winning Free Agent Center Hoping To Sign With LA

But is the feeling mutual?

Your Los Angeles Lakers continue to be on the lookout for a backup center on which they can use their 14th roster spot. Now, a familiar face is reportedly hoping the team once again wants his services.

Sources inform Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson of Bally Sports that Dwight Howard is hoping to return to the Lakers this year.

Howard has enjoyed three separate runs with LA. He first was flipped to the club when he was still an All-Star with a bad back for the 2012-13 season. The Artist Formerly Known As D12 joined a  team loaded with Hall of Famers, including point guard Steve Nash, shooting guard Kobe Bryant, and power forward Pau Gasol. Small forward Ron Artest, a one-time All-Star and Defensive Player of the Year, rounded out that season's starters.

The 6'10" big man was then just a few years removed from finishing second in league MVP voting and leading the Orlando Magic to the 2009 NBA Finals, where the club fell to Bryant, Gasol and the rest of your Lakers.

Of course, things didn't exactly go as planned during that initial Los Angeles stint. Nash barely played due to injuries, Howard wasn't quite his superstar defensive self and struggled to mesh with Bryant, and Bryant eventually tore his Achilles during the waning days of the team's 45-37 regular season. The team would get swept out of the first round by the Finals-bound San Antonio Spurs.

As a past-his-prime reserve, Howard returned to LA on a non-guaranteed minimum deal in 2019-20, where he proved to be a critical two-way role player who helped the club vanquish the Denver Nuggets in a five-game Western Conference Finals series. He was less essential in the subsequent NBA Finals against the Miami Heat.

Howard then signed with the Philadelphia 76ers for the 2020-21 season, before returning to LA (on a guaranteed veteran's minimum contract this time) for 2021-22, his final NBA season to date. He headed overseas to continue his career with Taiwan's Taoyuan Leopards, where he was named a T1 League All-Defensive First Teamer and an All-Star.

He is an eight-time NBA All-Star and three-time Defensive Player of the Year, but at 37 years old has a lower ceiling than several prospects still on the open market. He could be worth a flyer if other still-available prospects (namely Christian Wood and Bismack Biyombo) go elsewhere this summer.

Though he boasts career averages of 15.7 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks a contest, Los Angeles would be lucky if he logged averages in line with his 2021-22 numbers of 6.2 points (on 61.2% shooting from the floor), 5.9 boards and 0.6 rejections in 16.2 minutes per bout.

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