Dwight Howard is going with a bold prediction for the NBA Finals and it’s one that you won’t see many people pick.
The former Los Angeles Lakers big man — he won a championship with them in 2020 — predicts his former team, the Lakers, to face off against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2025 NBA Finals. The Lakers enter the playoffs as the Western Conference’s No. 3 seed while the Cavaliers ended the year with the best record in the East, holding that honor throughout the entire season.
As far as who will win it all? Howard predicts the LeBron James and Luka Doncic-led Lakers.
“The Lakers scare me because if LeBron is healthy in the playoffs, it’s going to be tough for teams to beat them in a seven-game series,” Howard told Basketball Insiders in an exclusive interview. “My mind is saying the Lakers are going to win this year. I see the Lakers against Cleveland.”
Ignoring the 2020 bubble year — there were no true home games during that postseason — this is the first time the Lakers will have home-court advantage in the postseason since 2012. In other words, that precedes Howard’s first stint with the Lakers, which occurred during the 2012- 13 season.
The Lakers have been one of the hottest teams since acquiring five-time All-Star guard Luka Doncic. At the time of the Doncic trade, Los Angeles was fifth in the Western Conference. Since the Doncic trade, the Lakers are 15-8 (65.2%) when both James and Doncic play together.
Stretched over an entire season, the Lakers would have the second-best record in the West and the fourth-best mark in the NBA.
“I love how the Lakers are playing,” says Howard of his former team. “I love how JJ (Redick) has stayed mentally locked in the whole season, hasn’t allowed any nonsense to affect them. The Luka trade, it really took them over the top. I see them making a deep run in the playoffs. I don’t see a lot of teams beating them in a seven-game series.”
Howard explains how the duo of James and Doncic are going to be hard for teams to stop. Doncic is only one season removed from an NBA Finals run while James has played in 10 Finals series, the most of any active individual player.
“It’s going to be tough the way Luka can play and score and pass along with the basketball mind of LeBron,” says Howard. “Luka’s going to be taking the same juice that LeBron is taking to make him play longer. Luka’s going to come to the playoffs, he’s going to be dunking on people, he’s going to be shooting from half court. They got Austin Reaves going crazy, they got their defensive specialists. LeBron has done an amazing job with them.”
Howard: Thunder ‘Afraid’ of Facing the Lakers
Although the Thunder have the best record in the West, Howard sees the Thunder as a favorable matchup for the Lakers. The only team Howard sees giving the Lakers problems in the West are the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets have defeated the Lakers in the playoffs in each of the past two seasons, with Los Angeles winning only one game in those two series.
However, the Nuggets could be vulnerable right now after firing head coach Michael Malone.
“The only team I see giving them trouble is Denver — and they can beat Denver,” says Howard. “OKC is afraid of them, they can beat OKC. I see no problems with OKC.”
The eight-time All-Star is one of the newest inductees in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. However, his career isn’t officially over as he’ll be playing for the BIG3’s Los Angeles Riot this season for the first time. Howard will be playing professionally in America for the first time since his last NBA season in 2021-22.
Howard Wants To Be First Hall of Famer to Return To NBA
He also has yet to shut the door on a possible return to the NBA if the right situation presents itself. Howard says if he and Luka were to ever team up on the Lakers, the point guard would score on the pick-and-roll “every time” with Howard.
“Luka would score every time — we’ll get a bucket every time,” says Howard. “It would be very difficult for them to stop me and Luka in a pick and roll. My screens are so deadly. The only thing they would do is call offensive fouls, but my screens would be so good and Luka will have so much freedom coming off my screens that it will open up his game to a new level. Me rolling to the rim is going to draw so much attention because nobody’s going to want me to dunk. It would bring so much energy to the team.”
Howard says even though he’s 39 years old, he could still give the Lakers 10-to-12 points per game. While he says it would be “tough” to return right now since his kids are the priority right now, he’s not ruling out a potential comeback to the NBA.
“Of course,” Howard says about leaving the door open for a return. “That would be crazy because it would be history — I would be the first active Hall of Famer. That would be big news, the first active Hall of Famer to play in the NBA.”
