Category: Los Angeles Lakers Blog

Dwight Howard injury update: Not ready for preseason opener

Dwight Howard will not be available for the Lakers’ exhibition opener Oct. 7 in Fresno against Golden State, the Lakers announced Thursday, indicating Howard will keep taking his recovery slow before the Oct. 30 regular-season opener.

Howard is rehabilitating from April 20 spinal surgery and began workouts Monday with Lakers athletic trainer Gary Vitti and head physical therapist Judy Seto, as I reported Tuesday.

The Lakers declined to provide any update from his initial workouts, but on Thursday they announced Howard would not be ready for the Oct. 2 first practice or the Oct. 7 first game. Ruling him out already for the first exhibition is an indication that the Lakers and Howard will be conservative in bringing him back and probably not test him in many exhibition contests.

— Reported by Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register

The Los Angeles Lakers have signed rookie forward/center Robert Sacre, it was announced today.

Sacre, a 7-0 forward/center out of Gonzaga, was selected by the Lakers in the second round (60th overall pick) in the 2012 NBA draft.  Sacre finished his career with the Bulldogs ranked second all-time in school history in career blocks (186) while averaging 9.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 135 games. As a senior, Sacre was named the 2012 WCC Defensive Player of the Year as well as an All-WCC First-Team honoree while averaging 11.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocks.

Most recently, Sacre started all five games for the Lakers 2012 Summer League team in Las Vegas, averaging 9.0 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 30.0 minutes.

The Los Angeles Lakers have signed rookie center Greg Somogyi and rookie forward Reeves Nelson, it was announced today. The deals are likely just training camp contracts, so the players will still have to prove themselves to make the regular season roster.

Somogyi, a 7-3 center out of UC Santa Barbara, played all four years for the Gauchos where he posted career averages of 3.5 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 12.2 minutes. Somogyi most recently played for the 2012 Lakers Summer League team where he averaged 1.2 points, 1.6 rebounds in 7.2 minutes.

Nelson, a 6-8 forward out of UCLA, was also a member of the 2012 Lakers Summer League team where he averaged 4.0 points and 5.3 rebounds in 16.3 minutes of play. Named to the All- PAC 10 first team following his sophomore year, Nelson played in 68 games for the Bruins averaging 12.1 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 27.0 minutes.

Former UCLA forward Reeves Nelson will be invited to the Lakers training camp that begins in early October after he signs a one-year, non-guaranteed contract, potentially worth about $700,000 with the team, Nelson told The Times on Tuesday.

Nelson would probably be considered a long shot to make the Lakers. But he considers the training camp invitation to be a blessing, particularly because he was dismissed from UCLA in December of 2011, largely for his disruptive attitude.

“I’m very grateful,” Nelson said. “It’s nice because I’m pretty sure that virtually no one thought I could get this far, so it’s pretty gratifying.”

— Reported by Baxter Holmes of the Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Lakers will hold ceremonies to honor three of their all-time great players during the 2012-13 season, it was announced today.

In the first of these events, on Friday November 16, the Lakers and STAPLES Center will unveil a statue of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at Star Plaza outside STAPLES Center. Kareem’s statue will join those of former Lakers Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Jerry West, former Kings hockey great Wayne Gretzky, boxer Oscar De La Hoya and former Lakers broadcaster Francis “Chick” Hearn.

On Friday December 28, in a half-time ceremony, the Lakers will retire jersey #52 in honor of Jamaal Wilkes, and on Tuesday April 2, will retire jersey #34 in honor of Shaquille O’Neal.

Abdul-Jabbar was a member of the Lakers from 1975-1989. He finished his career as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer (38,287) a record that still stands today. His accolades include six NBA Championships (1971, 80, 82, 85, 87 and 88); six-time NBA MVP (1971, 72, 74, 76, 77 and 80); 10-time All-NBA First Team; Five-time All-Defensive first team; Six-time All-Defensive Second Team and 19-time All-Star. Abdul-Jabbar was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995.

Wilkes was a member of the Lakers from 1977-1984. Wilkes finished his NBA career as a four-time NBA Champion (1975, 80, 82 and 85); three-time NBA All-Star (1976, 81, and 83); two-time All-Defensive Second Team and Rookie of the Year (1975). On April 2, 2012, Wilkes was announced as a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame induction class of 2012.

O’Neal was a member of the Lakers for eight seasons (1996-2004). During his career in Los Angeles, O’Neal was named NBA Most Valuable Player once (2000), Finals Most Valuable Player three times (2000, 2001, and 2002), All-NBA First Team on six occasions (1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004) and NBA All-Star seven times. As a Laker, O’Neal posted averages of 27.0 points, 11.8 rebounds and 2.49 blocked shots while winning three NBA Championships (2000, 2001 and 2002). The NBA’s sixth leading scorer of all-time (28,596), O’Neal earned a fourth NBA Championship in 2006 as a member of the Miami Heat.

After taking his physical Monday at the Lakers’ training facility, forward Devin Ebanks will sign the Lakers’ qualifying offer that entails a one-year deal worth a little more than $1 million, according to his agent, David Bauman.

The deal doesn’t exactly elicit the same headlines as the Lakers’ acquiring Steve Nash or Dwight Howard this off-season. But it is yet another move the Lakers have made to shore up a bench that finished near the last in the league in scoring.

Ebanks, 23, averaged 4.0 points and 2.3 rebounds in his second season with the Lakers last year, and earned a few unexpected promotions. He started the season’s first four games at small forward. Ebanks started  five games at shooting guard while Kobe Bryant nursed a left shin injury in the season. And Ebanks started in place of Metta World Peace during his seven-game suspension for elbowing Oklahoma City guard James Harden two games before the playoffs.

— Reported by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times (Blog)

The Lakers will again have the NBA’s highest payroll in the coming season, paying $27.8 million to Bryant, $19.5 million to Howard and $19 million to Gasol alone. They will endure the luxury-tax penalties until the summer of 2014, when Bryant and Gasol come off the books and the club plans to get under the luxury-tax plateau just when the NBA’s new repeater penalties would kick in.

Howard, 26, is aware of the hopes for championships until then.

“Everybody’s going to expect a lot out of us,” he said. “I know for myself, I’m going to give you 100 percent. I’m going to have fun. I’m going to smile. I’m going to dunk.”

Howard, who had missed just seven games in his first seven NBA seasons, professed renewed love for the game after April 20 surgery to repair a herniated disc in his back.

“I’ve grown a lot in these four months,” he said.

— Reported by Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register