Dwyane Wade once questioned Dwight Howard’s Top 75 exclusion, whose NBA return hopes ended again
Dwight Howard, in his prime, was the best center in the NBA. He is one of the best big men that the league has ever seen. His exclusion from the NBA’s 75th-anniversary team came as a surprise for former Miami Heat great Dwyane Wade. According to the three-time NBA champion, despite Howard’s reputation inside the locker room and outside the court, he did deserve a spot among the top 75.
In a sit down with former NFL Hall of Fame player and ESPN’s "First Take" co-host Shannon Sharpe, Wade gave his opinion on whether Howard deserved a spot among the top 75 players.
“When you talk about these last 25 years, how many names can you think of? And Dwight Howard’s name is not in there? And I know T-Mac should be in and other great players, but Dwight Howard, one, for me, was tough,” said D Wade on the "Club Shay Shay" podcast.
Wade is not the first person to question Howard’s snub from the NBA’s 75th-anniversary team. Howard's former coach in Orlando, Stan Van Gundy was also surprised by the inclusion of Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis and snubbing of D12. Gundy alluded to the fact that Howard’s career had a better peak and has more career achievements than that of Davis.
In his prime, the 2004 first-round pick was the best shot blocker, rim defender and the top rebounder in the league. Given his height and body, Dwight Howard's name was taken with LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.
Howard is a five-time All-NBA First Team, three-time Defensive Player of the Year, two-time blocks leader, five-time rebounding leader and an NBA champion.
Golden State Warriors decide on signing Dwight Howard
Howard is again finding himself at the end of the rope after the Warriors refused to sign the former NBA champion. According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the Warriors decided to continue with the big men that they already have on their team.
Howard and the Warriors were involved in a two-day discussion after it was reported that he would work out with Draymond Green and Chris Paul in Los Angeles.
The former Lakers player is at the twilight of his career. He is 37 years old and his athleticism has degraded with age. However, that does not mean that he would be irrelevant on any given team. The future Hall of Fame player can still use his size and strength to his advantage and defend the paint to a fair degree.