By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After his first overseas experience in Taiwan, eight-time All-Star center Dwight Howard strongly desires to return to the NBA and show that he can be an imposing figure on the floor.
“We talk about it so much man, I hate even bringing it up because it’s more so it’s like when somebody agitates you like, “All right, man, it’s enough.” But man, I’m grateful. I do want to make it back to the NBA.. I can still play,” Howard said in an interview with Complex. “Definitely want to show teams that I can still dominate even at being this age and still play at a high level and come back out on top.”
While acknowledging that he’s not the player he used to be at 37 years of age, Howard remains confident that he can not only bring a quality presence off the bench to most NBA teams.
“Well, I personally in my opinion believe that you have an upper echelon of centers that’s playing now and obviously, I’m not at my peak so people would consider me at this playing stage as being upper echelon,” Howard said. “But 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.”
In fact, Howard believes that he can still dominate thanks to his defensive abilities.
“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.”
In 2022 and after failing to find a contract in the NBA offseason, Howard joined the Taoyuan Leopards in Taiwan. It was his maiden stint outside the NBA after 18 seasons in the league packed with individual accolades (including five All-First Team selections) and an NBA championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020.
“It was probably one of the most unforgettable seasons, experiences that I’ve ever had in my life,” Howard mentioned on his Taiwan journey. “It’s the first time I ever played overseas in international basketball like this and staying overseas. It was a totally different experience living in Taiwan for seven months, being a part of a whole different culture, trying different foods and stuff like that. But as far as basketball, it’s like I got back to myself. I got back to just hooping, having a good time dominating and just playing free.