Dwight sees himself as part of Lakers future

Early Wednesday Mitch Kupchak spoke about Dwight Howard as the "future" of the Los Angeles Lakers on ESPN Radio with Colin Cowherd. During practice Howard echoed the sentiment, via Mike Bresnahan:

"Yeah, I do. That's what we've always talked about since the first day I got here."

Howard also stated that his goal is to win a championship in Los Angeles, and that he's "here right now" via Beto Duran:

"My goal hasn't changed. I want to win a championship. I want to win one here, and I’m here right now"

Howard has been non-committal to his future, repeatedly stating what matters is "right now" and the future is the future. He again alluded to the future being out of his mind in the present, via Beto Duran:

"Only thing matters is right now. Nobody can control what happens this offseason. No need to talk about it everyday. No need to make decision right now to where I want to be in future”

With the trade deadline passing in less than 24 hours, the Lakers will have to make a decision on whether to trade the franchise center, or take the gamble that he will elect to stay in Los Angeles as an unrestricted free agent in the Summer. With that said, Kupchak stated that teams were still putting in calls regarding the availability of Howard as recent as Wednesday morning, and the Atlanta Hawks were reported to be making a run at landing Dwight on Tuesday.

With less than a day left, the trade winds will be put to rest if only momentarily, as the next target date will be the end of the Lakers season. As it stands, that may be sooner than they'd wish, as the Lakers are still 3.5 games out of the playoffs.

- Drew

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