The Lakers have championship aspirations this season. They were hoping that Dwight Howard could return to at least some level of productivity to help them achieve their goals. In 62 games (2 starts), Dwight has averaged 7.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. This was all before the pandemic temporarily shut down play.

On a conference call Tuesday, Lakers GM Rob Pelinka said that Howard has yet to inform the team if he will rejoin them in Orlando when the league starts back up.

Via USA Today:

Melissa Rios, the mother of Howard’s 6-year-old son David, died on March 27 near her home in Calabasas, California, because of a seizure after fighting epilepsy. Amid protests the past month, begun after George Floyd died while in police custody in Minneapolis, Howard has said publicly he may sit out the season to help ongoing efforts to address racial inequality. 

“We are 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 would be a part of our roster in Orlando,” Pelinka said. “But that will be a continued process.”

The Lakers will already be without Avery Bradley who opted out because of concerns to his 6-year old son's history of respiratory illness.

The Lakers open up their restart on July 30th against the Clippers.