Tag: Dwight Howard

Dwight Howard thought James Harden would be a younger Kobe Bryant

Dwight Howard says he made a miscalculation when he left the Lakers to join the Rockets in 2013.

The 2012-13 season was a disastrous one for the Los Angeles Lakers. They went into it thinking they had assembled a superteam after trading for Dwight Howard and Steve Nash and adding them to a lineup that already featured Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol.

Instead of winning another NBA championship, the Lakers’ season dissolved before their eyes amid a rash of injuries, including the torn Achilles that marked the beginning of the end of Bryant’s career.

Howard left the following summer as a free agent and joined the Houston Rockets. It’s a move that didn’t work out well for him, and while on Matt Hoffa’s “Expert Opinion,” he seemed to express regret.

He said that he went to Houston because he thought James Harden would be a younger version of Bryant.

Via ClutchPoints:

“I felt the best the time was — obviously, I wanted to go to (the Brooklyn Nets) that didn’t happen — I went to the Lakers. And when I saw James Harden, I looked at him as a younger version of Kobe (Bryant). I don’t know why I was thinking that…

“… The furthest we got was the Western Conference finals…”

Howard lasted three years in Houston before he was traded to the Atlanta Hawks. He added that if he could go back in time, he probably would’ve remained with the Lakers.

Of course, he unexpectedly returned to the Purple and Gold for the 2019-20 season, and he played a key role in the team winning it all before also doing a third stint with it in the 2021-22 campaign.

Dwight Howard wants to return to the NBA and play for the Lakers

Dwight Howard may be in the twilight of his career, but he would like to return to the Lakers, and he feels he can still contribute.

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Big man Dwight Howard has had three separate stints with the Los Angeles Lakers, and each one had a very distinct flavor.

In his first stint, which came during the 2012-13 season, he put up strong numbers, but he griped about not getting enough touches in the post. He ended up leaving during the summer of 2013 amid a strained relationship with Kobe Bryant.

After having trouble getting along with other stars, including James Harden, Howard returned to L.A. for the 2019-20 season. It looked like the final shot for the beleaguered center to fix his reputation, let alone win an NBA championship.

He did both with the Lakers that season. He accepted and embraced a drastically reduced role off the bench.

Howard did one more tour with the Purple and Gold during the 2021-22 campaign, but it looked like his game had slipped by then, and he spent this past season playing pro ball in Taiwan.

During an exclusive interview with Complex, the future Hall of Famer said he still believes he can play serviceable basketball at the NBA level.

Via Complex:

“I know I can provide a team with 25 minutes of dominant basketball. And that’s not even scoring, that’s just playing defense, locking people up, protecting the paint, rebounding, and finishing around the basket. I’ve had my fun in the game. I just want to go out like a champ like I’m supposed to.”

He also listed five teams he would like to play for, and the Lakers were one of them.

“Okay, you got Miami Heat. You got, obviously, the Lakers. The Warriors. The Kings. But the Kings, I would say the Kings got a couple centers so they probably wouldn’t. But the Kings. The Hawks. I’m from Atlanta, go back home with the Hawks.”

Howard even had some interesting things to say about the allure of suiting up for the Purple and Gold yet again.

“It’s been crazy. It’s been crazy, but it’s just for some reason we just clicked. I don’t know, you could have a little girlfriend or whatever and it’s just, y’all done been together, y’all done broke up. You done tried other girlfriends but it’s just some type of connection y’all got.

“That’s how we feel about the Lakers. Man, it’s just something that we got this connection. I don’t know. It got to work. It got to work. But I do love the Lakers, man. We had the championship run there and I wish we would’ve had a chance to keep going because that was the squad right there. We had everything. We had everything.”

It is not clear if Howard, who is 37 years of age, can still defend and rebound consistently and at a high enough level to attract another NBA gig, or if the Lakers would have interest in bringing him back.

However, they do need a center that can provide about 15-20 minutes per game of physical, positional defense, boxing out and rebounding.

Dwight Howard wanted to play for the Brooklyn Nets ‘so many times’

Former NBA great Dwight Howard told Complex Magazine that he wanted to play for the Brooklyn Nets ‘so many times’ during his career.

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The Brooklyn Nets have played at Barclays Center for the past 11 seasons and impressively, they have made the playoffs in eight of those seasons thanks to some great players that have been on the team throughout the years. It looks like there was one great player who wanted to play for Brooklyn during that span.

Former NBA great Dwight Howard said in a recent interview with Complex Magazine that he wanted to come to Brooklyn “so many times” during his playing days. Howard, the first overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, played in the league from 2004 to 2022 and during his career, he won Defensive Player of the Year three times and made an All-NBA team eight times.

Howard said that in his attempt to join the Nets, he was allegedly told no because “they wanted a big who could shoot”. While Howard was one of the most dominant big men in the history of the Association, he did shoot 21.4% from three-point land and 56.7% from the free-throw line.

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Warriors fans call for 8-Time All-Star to solve their size problem’

The former All-Star big man is seen as a potential short-term stop gap to help alleviate some of the Golden State Warriors size issues.

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Currently, the Golden State Warriors have a lack of size in their frontcourt. As things stand, no player on the roster is taller than 6’9”. Mike Dunleavy has done an excellent job of revamping the Warriors’ guard rotation but must now turn his attention to the middle of the floor.

Fortunately, it would appear some Warriors’ fans have done Dunleavy’s scouting for him. In a recent post on Reddit, some members of the fanbase floated the idea of acquiring Dwight Howard on a minimum contract.

Is Dwight Howard that low cost option for that large body defensive stop gap? Or is he too washed?
by u/KarlOveKnau in warriors

Howard, 37, spent last season playing basketball in Taiwan. However, the 8-Time All-Star has previously discussed his openness to returning to the NBA if the offer made sense.

During his season abroad, Howard averaged 23.2 points, 16.2 rebounds, and 5 assists per game, shooting 57.7% from the field. However, Howard wouldn’t be joining the Warriors for his offensive upside. Instead, the veteran big man would be tasked with providing rim protection off the bench and controlling the defensive glass.

Despite his advancing years, Howard has remained productive as a rebounder and rim protector. During the 2021-22 season, Howard participated in 60 regular-season games for the Los Angeles Lakers, pulling down 5.9 rebounds per game, with four of them coming on the defensive end.

Howard isn’t a long-term solution at center. Yet, as a team with a serious lack of size, a short-term fix would make a world of difference. There’s no telling whether Howard could be enticed back to the NBA.

However, a shot at another championship ring could be enough to get Howard to sit at the negotiating table, and from there, it’s about selling him on the culture and being part of the Warriors dynasty.

Former Laker Dwight Howard wants to return to the NBA and play for the Kings

Dwight Howard, who helped the Lakers win the 2020 NBA championship, wants one last hurrah in the league next season.

Dwight Howard had three different stints with the Los Angeles Lakers, and each had a distinct narrative.

His first, which came during the 2012-13 season, was ill-fated and ended with a first-round sweep at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs. He left the following summer in free agency amidst accusations that he was selfish and a prima donna.

Howard returned for the 2019-20 season, and although many were skeptical, the eight-time All-Star embraced a lesser role off the bench and helped L.A. win the NBA championship.

Last season, the team brought the big man back for one final season, but it was clear his best days were behind him.

Howard spent this season playing pro basketball in Taiwan, but he isn’t convinced his NBA days are behind him. In fact, he says he wants to return to the league this fall and play for the Sacramento Kings.

Via Sacramento Observer:

“I’m not retired from the NBA just yet,” Howard told The Observer. “I would love to help the Sacramento Kings contend for a title. Even though I believe their team is pretty much set.”

Coming into this season, many weren’t expecting much from the Kings. But they finished with the third-best record in the Western Conference and made the playoffs for the first time since 2006.

They did so with a high-octane, fairly egalitarian offense that produced 120.7 points per game in the regular season, one of the highest scoring averages in league history. Howard was impressed with the unselfishness and team play of Sacramento.

“The thing that stood out most this year was the contracts that players signed accepting their roles and actually sticking with it no matter what,” Howard explained.

The Kings are coached by Mike Brown, who was the Lakers’ head coach for the first five games of the 2012-13 campaign, Howard’s first year with them.

Dwight Howard would take his prime self over Nikola Jokic

Former Lakers center Dwight Howard doesn’t seem to fully respect or appreciate Nuggets superstar big man and two-time MVP Nikola Jokic.

Denver Nuggets superstar center Nikola Jokic is about to play in the NBA Finals for the first time, and he has won back-to-back regular season MVPs. Yet he remains underrated and underappreciated.

Los Angeles Lakers fans witnessed how excellent Jokic is during the recent Western Conference finals in which his team swept the Purple and Gold while he posted three triple-doubles.

Perhaps in a fortnight or so, he will start to get his flowers, but for now, some are still skeptical he’s for real.

One of those skeptics seems to be former Lakers center Dwight Howard, who said he would take his prime self over Jokic.

In his prime, Howard wasn’t a super-skilled offensive player, although he managed to average over 20 points a game in four seasons. It was on defense and on the boards where he made his name. He led the NBA in rebounding average five times and won three straight Defensive Player of the Year awards in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Although Howard will, in all likelihood, end up in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, he was never on Jokic’s level.

Dwight Howard is hilariously trying to coax LeBron James and the rest of the NBA to join him in Taiwan

Dwight Howard is trying to build himself another superteam in Taiwan

Dwight Howard is completely out of pocket right now and, honestly, it’s got to be one of the funniest things on the internet.

So, for those of you who are unaware, Dwight is still playing basketball — he’s just not doing it in the NBA. The 36-year-old center announced in November that he decided to take his talents to Taiwan and play for the Taoyuan City Leopards.

And, listen. The man is getting busy over there. He’s averaging 23 points, 16 rebounds and 5 assists over there. They’re letting Dwight Howard shoot 3s now, too. I mean, who is going to tell him not to? He’s Dwight Howard playing basketball in Taiwan.

So, anyway, Dwight is apparently trying to build himself a superteam over there in Taiwan.

Dwight Howard did the Taiwan league 3-point contest and was … not that bad?

We saw worse in the NBA 3-point contest.

If you’ve been wondering what Dwight Howard is up to lately, the eight-time NBA All-Star is still hooping, playing basketball in Taiwan’s T1 League. And he’s been looking like his old dominant self over there.

Playing for the Taoyuan Leopards, Howard is averaging 25.6 points, according to asia-basket.com, and he was named the T1’s inaugural All-Star Game MVP after posting 37 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists in Tuesday’s game.

But the real buzz around Howard right now is from his participation in the T1 3-point contest. Because, ya know, it’s Dwight Howard. He only made 22 threes on 22% shooting during his entire 18-year NBA career.

But he wasn’t as bad as you might expect…

Alright, so no, he didn’t do great either. Howard was so slow, and some of his misses were real clankers. But he still finished with 15 points, a respectable number that might’ve been higher if he moved a little faster. It also would’ve been better than two NBA players in their contest a couple weeks ago — Julius Randle (13) and Kevin Huerter (8).

Howard’s showing was actually a continuation of how his NBA career evolved before his final season in 2022. He made 37% of his threes (13-of-35) over his final two seasons with the Sixers and Lakers.

So shoutout to him for not being afraid to put that new shooting stroke on display and give those fans a show.

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As soon as WWE opportunity is better than NBA, Dwight Howard is in

If Dwight Howard calls Triple H instead of an NBA team calling him, we could see him in WWE sooner rather than later.

Dwight Howard is ready to make the jump to pro wrestling as soon at makes sense.

That could be soon. The 36-year-old and eight-time All-Star has played for seven NBA teams (including the Los Angeles Lakers three times) but currently finds himself a free agent. He expressed his interest in trying his hand at WWE last month after attending a tryout in Nashville, explaining that he simply wanted the chance to train at wrestling and do it right.

The unsaid part was that he wouldn’t be able to devote himself to that pursuit as long as he was still playing basketball, but if no one signs him — and the NBA season is now less than a month away — maybe this would be the time. Howard seemed open to the idea of a career switch soon in a recent interview with TMZ, saying that if it came down to choosing between WWE and the NBA, he go with “Whatever opportunity is best.”

WWE appears to have mutual interest, with Paul “Triple H” Levesque telling The Sporting News that if the big man is willing to put in the work that other performers from outside the industry have shown, he’s welcome to give it a shot.

“All he’s gotta do is call me, and we’ll see what can happen,” Levesque said. “And if he’s willing to put in the grind and the drive that guys like Logan Paul, and Bad Bunny and Tyson Fury are willing to put in, then let’s go.”

Considering the work it takes to remain a top level NBA player for years, Howard shouldn’t have too much of a problem living up to that end of the deal. Whether he can be consistently entertaining would be the real question, but there’s no doubt it would attract a lot of interest from sports fans who don’t regularly watch wrestling if he decides to take Levesque up on the offer and make that call.

Report: Brooklyn Nets interested in Dwight Howard, but not Carmelo Anthony

Reports indicate that the Brooklyn Nets have lost interest in free agent Carmelo Anthony, turning attention to Dwight Howard.

The Brooklyn Nets are looking to add veterans to their roster in some of their final spots, and according to a report the team is interested in Dwight Howard – but not in 10-time All-Star Carmelo Anthony.

Brooklyn Nets insider Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson of the Bally Sports network reported the news earlier on Twitter. Robinson reported that the reason the organization lost interest in Anthony is because the team is, “looking for a vocal leader in the locker room.” Apparently, the franchise feels that Anthony isn’t as vocal as he once was have put him to the side for now.

Robinson also reports that Brooklyn has retained an interest in Dwight Howard’s veteran defensive presence. “Howard’s name is still buzzing amongst Brooklyn Nets brass,” he wrote.

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The Nets have very limited spots left on their roster and with the right piece, could excel the team beyond expectations. A veteran leader in the locker room is essential if the organization wants to make a postseason push.

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