Dwight Howard has yet to find his groove through his first three months with the Los Angeles Lakers, and one of the reasons for that has been his inability to stay healthy. Howard has battled a right shoulder problem for the past month, and he aggravated the injury once again on Wednesday night when Phoenix Suns guard Shannon Brown blocked his shot late in the fourth quarter.
“It’s real sore,” Howard told reporters after the loss to Phoenix, via ESPNLosAngeles.com. “Everything on (the right) side (of my body) is hurting pretty bad right now.”
Howard has been playing through a torn labrum. He originally suffered the injury on Jan. 4 during a game against the Los Angeles Clippers. He hurt the shoulder once again in a loss to the Memphis Grizzlies last week before tweaking it again on Wednesday.
“I’m going to try as much as I can but I don’t want to cause more damage to my shoulder,” Howard said. “I don’t want to (miss any games), but we’ll see.”
The 27-year-old said he is not considering having surgery to repair the shoulder at this time. Kobe Bryant downplayed the injury, saying that he has played through similar pain and that it is something that Howard will have to deal with all season long. The problem with that is the Lakers need to start winning more games than they lose. Without a healthy Howard, that will be an even tougher task.
