Warriors owner says they were close to getting Dwight Howard

If you remember the night of Dwight Howard’s decision, then you remember tons of false reporting and twitter refreshing. After Andre Iguodala agreed to a sign and trade to the Golden State Warriors, it was assumed that they knew they were out of the race for Howard. They were in a different situation than the Rockets, Lakers, Hawks, and Mavericks, as they didn’t have the cap space to sign him straight up, so they needed to get the Lakers to agree to a sign and trade. Warriors owner Joe Lacob seems to think they were closer than we all thought, per the Sporting News:

"“I don’t like to focus on those who aren’t here,” Lacob told SN as part of an exclusive conversation this week. “Good luck in Houston, Mr. Howard. And I am sure he will help that team, they will be better. But we would not have gone after him if we didn’t think we had a chance or that it made sense. … We were a lot closer than people realize to perhaps that actually happening, (Howard) coming here. I think that is a testament to what is happening here. He was affected by the presentation that he saw by our ownership and our management.”"

He didn’t mention anything about how the Lakers were willing to do a sign and trade, but he talked about how impressed Dwight was with them. I have no doubt that he was intrigued by their young core, but it’s hard to picture the Lakers helping out a division rival like that. Who knows what went down on that night, but heck maybe we’ll learn something from his documentary.