Once an NBA superstar, Dwight Howard has been playing basketball abroad for a couple of years now but has been extremely outspoken about his desire to be given one last chance in the league. This week he divulged that he was initially depressed when he started to play professional basketball in Taiwan, because his mind was in the United States.
The controversial big man was invited to speak on the Above The Rim with DH 12 podcast, where he discussed where his head was during this moment in time and why he took the opportunity to continue his career in Asia. “I was depressed like hell. I know I’m supposed to be playing in the NBA.
“I know I do. But I can’t sit up there and let this stop me from being who I am. Coming over here, these people gave me wings. I never take these people for granted because they gave me the opportunity to come just hoop. And the people here showed me so much love,” he revealed.
“Only thing I’m mad about that is, they didn’t keep all of us together.”
Dwight Howard, DeMarcus Cousins, and Quinn Cook reflect back on the success the 2019-2020 Los Angeles Lakers had.
— BASKETBALL ON 𝕏 (@BASKETBALLonX) August 5, 2024
The three-time Defensive Player of the Year last played in the NBA during 2021-22 campaign with the purple and gold, and averaged 6.2 points and 5.9 rebounds throughout 60 games. That season he served as the backup center of Anthony Davis.
Amidst Detroit‘s historic-losing streak from last year, the veteran center shared a video on social media with the names of at least 10 former NBA veterans who have also struggled to sign new contracts in the league, including John Wall and Blake Griffin, who he believes could lead the Pistons to victory.
“You know who would win them some games lol …IT, John Wall, Michael Beasley, Demarcus (Cousins), Me. Bench: Do, Kemba (Walker), Lance (Stephenson), Blake (Griffin), Tacko (Fall),” the video says.
Not too long ago, he went all the way to state stating that he would love to retire representing the Magic jersey one more time.“Took a trip down to Orlando to support Stan and meeting up with my old teammates got me emotional. Having a chance to go back to where it all started was so amazing,” he wrote this year. “I really missed this beautiful city.”
Howard has been very outspoken in the past about how he still has the talent to support any franchise in today’s NBA
Let’s not forget, this potential Hall of Famer was a fundamental part of the title-winning 2020 Los Angeles Lakers, as he backed up superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis in their pursuit of the championship.
“I know that there’s at least 15 to 20 teams that I could play for. And I know there’s teams that got great starting centers, but I know I could be a great backup center,” Howard said at the start of last season. “I know I can provide a team with 25 minutes of dominant basketball… I just want to go out like a champ like I’m supposed to.”
During this same interview, he also shared his appreciation for being part of the purple and gold squad back in 2020, expressing how special it would be to relive a similar situation this upcoming campaign.
“That’s how we feel about the Lakers” Howard added. “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.”
