Dwight Howard was plagued by a back injury this past season, and now the Los Angeles Lakers center is progressing with the issue and has worked to put it past him, according to Mitch Kupchak.

"Dwight is in a category of the great," Kupchak said. "He's over his back injury and there's no reason he can't play seven or eight more years at that position, and there's no doubt in my mind (that) if he does, he's in the Hall of Fame, and those players are just hard to come by."

Kupchak has continually said Howard is the Lakers' future and reiterated that message.

"He's our future," Kupchak said.