Dwight Howard to the Lakers

The news is a few days old, but Dwight Howard was sent to the Los Angeles Lakers in a four-team trade.  This deal immediately puts the Lakers right up near or at the top of the league.

The Miami Heat are the defending champs and added Ray Allen in the offseason, but the Lakers now have Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant, Metta World Peace, Pau Gasol, and Dwight Howard in their starting five.  They also have Antwan Jamison to boot on their bench.

Howard will miss the first month of so off the regular season as he recovers from back surgery, but the Lakers' starting five will be unbelievable once he gets back.  As the Miami Heat found out, it takes some time to get acclimated to playing with new guys, and this is sure to be the case with the Lakers.  But with 82 games on the schedule instead of last year's 66, it shouldn't be too bad.

I personally have never been a big fan of Howard.  I was a big fan of Shaq when he played for L.A., and I have always thought Howard was very rare in terms of post moves.  Additionally, I don't mind that he has a fun-loving personality, but I don't think he always has a win at all costs attitudes.  Yes, he hustles, tries hard, and works hard in general on the defensive end, but he hasn't seemed to care too much about the winning side of things.  I'm sure he wants to win and that's a big reason he got out of Orlando, but he has always rubbed me in the wrong way for some reason.

I hear a lot of analysts asserting he will stay for sure in L.A. long-term once he gets used to the stylish life there, but I am not so sure of this.  Remember how much Dwight wavered in the past year, so it isn't certain that he'll want to stay there.  The key point a lot of people may also be missing is the longevity of Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant.  Nash will probably only play for a few more years, and Kobe Bryant has said he may only want to play two more years.  In these next two years, the Lakers could win a title or two.  However, Nash and Bryant could call it quits and Howard would not be surrounded by all that much talent.  The question is whether or not he could see himself being successful once this All-Star squad disassembles.  It is also possible the Lakers could reload once those guys are done because I'm sure many good players would want to play in L.A. alongside Howard.

What do you think? Will Dwight stick around for the long-term?  Let me know what you think will happen down the road.