Charlotte Hornets center Dwight Howard can't see LeBron James making a potential move to the City of Brotherly Love, despite being the only other team besides the Los Angeles Lakers with open cap space to sign him this summer.
“All of us want to have the ball in our hands because we feel like we can do something special with the ball,” Howard said as a guest of ESPN's The Jump with Rachel Nichols. “This is what we work for so LeBron going to Philly, I don't see that happening because they already have like the baby LeBron already with Ben Simmons.”
“He's doing almost all the things LeBron has done for his teams: he's getting the assists, he's getting the triple-doubles, he's scoring, passing, rebounding, he's doing those things. I think if this was LeBron's last season and he wanted to really mentor a guy like Ben Simmons, it would be great. But Embiid needs the ball, Ben Simmons wants the ball, they just need more shooters I would say.”
Howard shared an opinion that has gone around for a while — how does LeBron fit in with another player that operates exactly like he does?
Yet the big man offered his two cents on what James should do this offseason.
“I think at this point in LeBron's career, I don't think it's a good move,” added Howard. “You got two guys who are rising, Embiid and Simmons, they're rising, they're becoming great players on their own. At the end of the day, he [James] really has to do what makes him happy and the best decision for his career. You have to really take your emotions out of it.”
“Whatever he does, we're still going to compete. As a competitor, I hate LeBron's guts. I want to beat him, that's me being a competitor but as a man, I respect him, what he's done for the game, what he's done for his family.”
James, unfortunately, is a foundational player — one whom teams build around, but not a plug-and-play type that can be easily inserted in a lineup, making the Lakers the only roster capable to catering to that style of roster construction, with only young moving pieces currently in it and plenty of cap space to surround him with the help that he needs.
Philadelphia's roster is built to win as is, but that in itself will prove a fair impediment for this move, given the pieces already in place.
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