After two championships in three NBA Finals appearances, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and the Los Angeles Lakers were swept by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 NBA playoffs.
As the team’s championship window was slowly closing, general manager Mitch Kupchak traded for Dwight Howard and Steve Nash heading into the 2012-13 NBA season.
While the Lakers were instantly viewed as favorites to win it all, they barely made the 2013 playoffs and Howard eventually signed with the Houston Rockets in free agency.
With Howard unexpectedly returning to the Lakers now, Nash reflected on the 2012-13 Lakers, via The Ringer:
“I don’t think it was a great fit. It was a great idea, it was a great opportunity — I think everyone thought this will happen. This will be great. But then when it started happening, a lot of factors. One, I broke my knee in the first or second game, whenever it was. I was never the same, I’m still not the same. Pau, I think was going through a stretch where he’s exhausted from playing for Spain all throughout the summers. Dwight came off the back surgery. I don’t think Metta was quite the same. Although he could still hurt people and still had his moments, he wasn’t quite as dynamic as he was. And I don’t think we fit great.”
Nash also feels it would have never worked out between him, Bryant, Howard, Gasol, and Metta World Peace:
“You add it all up, I don’t think that it would have ever worked. It was doomed.”
At the time of the Howard and Nash trades, the Lakers made the right decisions. Unfortunately, everything that could go wrong did and they paid the price by trading away draft picks while being forced into a rebuilding process.
The 2012-13 Lakers serve as a reminder that games still need to be played despite how talented they were on paper. While they came together in the second half of the season, Bryant’s Achilles injury destroyed hopes of a championship.
After six seasons, there are championship aspirations once again with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. With two of the five best players now, the Lakers are determined to bring the Larry O’Brien trophy back to Los Angeles once again.
