Lakers star Dwight Howard won't play tonight against the Wolves in that unusual 8:30 p.m. tip on ESPN because of a torn labrum in his shoulder, which means Pau Gasol moves into the starting lineup at center against Nikola Pekovic instead.
And that means for a least a night the Why-Isn't-Pau-Starting? conversation quiets down.
"That's one story you guys won't have to write," Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni told reporters after shootaround this afternoon. "You all might have to work a little bit."
D'Antoni has struggle with finding time and space for both Howard and Gasol together this season, which led Ricky Rubio to say that if the Lakers don't want his friend and Spanish national teammate, he'll take him.
"When he gets a team he can coach, he can make that decision," D'Antoni said. "But c'mon..."
Kobe Bryant, btw, says the Lakers will gladly take Kevin Love if folks in Minnesota still think the Wolves are better off without him -- a notion Bryant termed "idiotic" -- but says his team is keeping Gasol.
"We want him," Bryant said. "It's just unfortunate that he's always a subject of trade rumors and speculation. We know what we've got. We haven't used him to his full potential, everybody knows that. That's something we're trying to figure out. That's something we'll have to do a much better job at if we want to reach our ultimate potential."
Howard is returning to L.A. today to have one of those platelet-rich plasma procedures done there and is expected to re-join the team later in this seven-game Grammys trip that kicked off in Phoenix Wednesday night.
