Dwight Howard reportedly makes Naismith Hall of Fame on first ballot
Dwight Howard was named the best center in the NBA for five straight years. (Photo by)
(Gene Wang via Getty Images)
Dwight Howard, the best center of a generation, is headed to the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame.
The eight-time All-Star will be enshrined as part of the Hall of Fame's Class of 2025, according to ESPN's Shams Charania, joining former teammate Carmelo Anthony and others in Springfield on his first ballot.
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Howard was named a finalist for the Class of 2025 in February and was inducted into the Orlando Magic's Hall of Fame last month. His Naismith enshrinement will be officially announced during a ceremony at the NCAA Final Four on Saturday.
Howard's career saw his star both rise and peak with the Orlando Magic, where he earned five straight All-NBA first-team nods, won three straight Defensive Player of the Year Awards and led the team to the 2009 NBA Finals. No big man altered the game from the paint more than he did during his prime with the Magic, with 20.6 points, 13.9 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game from 2007-08 to 2011-12.
He remains one of only four players to win DPOY at least three times, alongside Dikembe Mutombo, Ben Wallace and Rudy Gobert. He was also the starting center on Team USA's gold medal-winning 2008 Olympic basketball team, alongside Anthony, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Kobe Bryant.
It was also in 2008 that Howard delivered one of the best Slam Dunk Contest performances the NBA has ever seen.
Howard entered the league as one of the later prep-to-pro phenoms and was selected first overall by the Magic, something of a surprise given the hype behind UConn big man Emeka Okafor. Howard certainly made it look like a good decision. It's what came after his Orlando career that led to Howard being somewhat underrated historically, enough so that he was among the most controversial snubs from the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.
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His divorce from the Magic was ugly and awkward, most notably during one of the league's most surreal new conferences ever alongside head coach Stan Van Gundy. The situation ended with a trade to the Los Angeles Lakers, but he never found his old peak again.
Howard spent the second half of his career as a journeyman. He lasted three years with the Houston Rockets after a turbulent single season with the Lakers, then changed teams every offseason for the rest of his NBA career. He played for the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Washington Wizards and Philadelphia 76ers, with three separate one-year stints with the Lakers.
It was his second tenure in 2019-20, the pandemic season, that saw Howard win his first and only NBA Finals. He was a solid, traditional big man until the end of his career; he just happened to be in a league where that position was increasingly going out of vogue.
Howard's career ultimately moved from promising to dominant to difficult, but there are very few big men with résumés like his, even in the Hall of Fame. It shouldn't be a surprise he got the call from Naismith on his first ballot, though he did make it clear days earlier that he didn't need it.
Howard kept playing basketball after the 2021-22 season, his last in the NBA, most notably with a stint with Taiwan's Taoyuan Leopards. He has popped on television in other areas since then, like in the 24th season of "Dancing with the Stars."
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