Dwight Howard admits he “never thought” he would play for the Los Angeles Lakers again.

Howard averaged 17.1 points and 12.4 rebounds in 76 regular season games for the Lakers in 2012-13 while shooting 57.8 percent from the field. LA was swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the 2013 playoffs and Howard was ejected in Game 4. He signed with the Houston Rockets that summer.

Howard always had a good relationship with Lakers controlling owner Jeanie Buss despite leaving Los Angeles on bad terms with some people in the organization. The former superstar is happy to be back in LA and on a championship contender.

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“Never thought it was gonna happen. You know, it's crazy. Couple weeks before it happened, I was at a fight. And a fan was like, ‘Hey, you should come back to the Lakers.' And I was like, ‘F no.' And then I'm here. And I'm like man, it's crazy how everything happened and everything happens for a reason. I'm excited. I'm looking forward to it,” Howard told Shams Charania of Stadium.

Last season with the Washington Wizards, Dwight Howard played in just nine games. He underwent a lumbar microdiscotemy in November. Howard put up 12.8 points and 9.2 rebounds with Washington.

With the Lakers this time around, Howard will back up JaVale McGee. He's on a non-guaranteed deal with the franchise.