If you take Dwight Howard at his word (always a bit shaky), he gives a solid reason why he left the Lakers for the Rockets.
He looks silly speaking about himself in 3rd person, but this is Dwight we are talking about. Here is what he had to say to Hoops World, about how hard it was to leave LA.
“Very tough. Very, very, very tough. Very, very tough. People wouldn’t understand. Walking away from them and walking away from $30 million. That shows you right there that I want to win. I want to win. Nothing else matters other than winning. I don’t think anybody would’ve ever walked away from $30 million, but I want to win. But yeah, just walking away was tough. I was walking away from six million fans. I was walking away from a storied franchise. All of that makes it tough and it makes it a really, really big risk. I learned a lot from the situation in Orlando though, when I was afraid to walk away because I didn’t want to hurt people. I was afraid to leave because everything seemed like it was great. But now, I’m doing what’s best for Dwight. People are going to be mad and upset either way, so I’d rather be happy. I want to be happy playing basketball rather
The best decision for me was to do what’s best for Dwight. I think this is the best thing for me. This wasn’t a decision about anybody else. I didn’t have anybody pushing me to do anything. This is what Dwight wanted.”
Dwight was a free agent, he doesn’t need to explain it to anyone. If he wants to play in Houston, he should go play in Houston.