Early in Iron Man 3, the evil Aldrich Killian shows the beautiful Pepper Potts a 3D image of his brain. My immediate thought was:
Dwight Howard.
Yes, Lakers fans would love to get an idea of what is going on in that big brain, which seems to work slightly different than … well, every great player in NBA history.
Since forever – or at least since Jerry West’s playing days – the Lakers have made Los Angeles a desirable destination. Wilt Chamberlain wanted to go there in 1968 to play with West and Elgin Baylor, and the move paid off with only the second title Wilt was able to win during his career.
When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar felt intellectually constricted by what he felt was the simplicity of Milwaukee, one of the teams he asked to be traded to was the Lakers.
Bob McAdoo was an MVP and three-time scoring champion who was traded to the Magic-Kareem Lakers and was thrilled to be their sixth man. Same for Mychal Thompson, who had been the No. 1 pick in the draft but also came off the bench for the Lakers.
In pursuit of a championship, Hall of Famers Karl Malone and Gary Payton went to the Lakers late in their careers.
When he became a free agent after his fourth season and was the most dominant one-man force in the league, Shaquille O’Neal – at the tender age of 24 – could not wait to become a Laker.
And that’s only a partial list. Countless role players have been ecstatic to have a chance to play with the Lakers. It’s a given that players want to play with the Lakers. It’s normal. It’s been that way forever. Or at least since Jerry West’s playing days.
So why in the name of George Mikan would Howard be openly considering signing with another team?
Because as the NBA has come to know, if anything, Dwight will be Dwight.
In one sense, perhaps his desire to be different should be understood. Shaq has not been shy 
about hurling barbs at Howard. Some of them were a result of Howard donning a Superman cape at the 2008 Slam Dunk Contest. It may be a comic book character to some; to others, it’s a not-so-secret identity.
Shaq has long been a Superman fan. He has a tattoo of the Man of Steel on his arm and collected memorabilia including a life-sized Superman statue. He even had Superman logos put on the grills of his cars.
It was one thing for Howard to follow Shaq to Orlando, but to try and assume the character of Superman – well, that was a fighting issue.