Dwight Howard Celebrated As 2025 Basketball Hall Of Fame Inductee

In 2004, Dwight Howard, who entered the NBA directly out of high school, will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

By the time he reached 28, he had already won three Kia Defensive Player of the Year awards, won eight All-NBA honors, won five rebounding titles, and led the league in blocked shots twice.

During the first few seasons of his career, he established himself as well.

When Howard famously wore the outfit with the letter “S” on his chest during the 2008 dunk competition—which he won, making him the only center to do so—it encapsulated the player’s personality, for better or ill.

It is interesting to note that, his detractors believed he did not give the game enough attention. Perhaps he was not so serious about himself. He refused to let the fantasy world he and other affluent athletes lived in consume him since he understood he was living a dream.

Given that O’Neal was by then well past his peak, Howard was perhaps the most dominant player in basketball in the seasons prior to and following his 2009 run to the NBA Finals with the Magic. He missed just four games in his first six seasons and averaged 19.8 points per game, 13.7 rebounds per game, and 2.6 rebounds per game from 2007 to 2010.

He soon embarked on a multi-team career that was dotted with injuries, dead ends, false starts, a temporary comeback, and, in 2020, a championship with the Lakers. Essentially, this is about two Dwight Howards being stretched over 18 years: one who dominated during the decline of the low-post big man, the other who managed to carve out productivity and longevity during a changing game.

An 18-year-old with shoulders already wide enough to shed opponents and carry a team, in this case the desperate Magic, he entered the league as a savior. Orlando had just finished a 21-win campaign and appeared to be a far way from the wild Shaq-Penny Hardaway seasons.

During his formative years, Howard was dependable yet raw, particularly offensively. He was the only player in history to start all 82 games right out of high school, the youngest to average a double-double, and the youngest to average 10 rebounds in a season during his rookie campaign.

At the time, Howard was a power forward, but in his second season, he made the permanent switch to center after gaining weight. Despite being small in center matchups, he was strong enough to compete with bigger players. And the key difference – Howard was significantly speedier than the competition.

He could beat his opponent down the court for layups and dunks, he was faster at grabbing rebounds, he could spin free for lob passes and more simple baskets, and he responded quickly on defense to block shots.

Howard’s offense took longer to adapt, and his career would ultimately suffer as a result of his incapacity to increase his shooting range. Howard’s 40-point, 14-rebound performance against Cleveland in Game 6 of the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals was his defining moment, but he could still dominate in the postseason. In the game, he was a beast to secure Orlando’s Finals spot.

Kobe Bryant defeated the Magic, and the and the Lakers in that series, and never returned with Howard. By 2012, turbulence between the franchise and Howard emerged, and the two sides drifted apart in multiple ways.

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In 2012, Howard sustained a back ailment that necessitated surgery that summer. Howard was plagued by the injury for another season while playing for the Lakers in Los Angeles. That, along with regular run-ins with Bryant, made for a season that was unsatisfactory. Howard was ejected early in the third quarter of Game 4, and the Lakers went from being the clear favorites to losing to the Spurs in the first round.

He only played for the Lakers for one season. Howard joined the Houston Rockets to play with James Harden, but he never clicked with Harden after suffering a knee injury that limited his output.

Howard played one season in his hometown of Atlanta before being traded by the Hawks to the Charlotte Hornets in a deal that was practically a no-brainer.

The following two years were peculiar. Although Howard was cut by the Grizzlies and Nets before he played a game, he technically spent it with four different clubs. Due to back problems, he only appeared in nine Wizards games. By that time, the league preferred big, shooting men. In addition to being elderly and prone to injuries, Howard was getting closer to becoming obsolete.

Howard was given another opportunity in Los Angeles when the Lakers sought big man insurance and purchased a policy on him. Howard took advantage of the opportunity to go in style, even though his role would change significantly along with less touches and minutes.

which he carried out. In 2019–20, he played 69 games as a substitute, averaging a very good 7.3 rpg in just 19 minutes per game.

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Even better, Howard meshed with Davis and LeBron James for that one friction-free season.

What’s intriguing is how Howard was left off the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team. That remains a sore subject with him. Howard’s three Kia Defensive Player of the Year trophies and two trips to the Finals should’ve almost automatically qualified him.

Unquestionably, he was among the best at his position and in his role during his generation. The double-doubles, rebounding titles, impact in the paint and his game-changing defensive play placed him in very select company.