Dwight Howard extends LeBron James an invitation to Taiwan

Former Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard has spent this season playing basketball in Taiwan, and by all accounts, he has enjoyed himself there.

After the Lakers lost Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals to the Denver Nuggets, he appeared to invite LeBron James to head halfway across the globe to join him there.

Years ago, Howard was considered arguably the best center in the NBA. He won three straight Defensive Player of the Year awards and was one of the league’s best rebounders and shot-blockers.

In 2009, he led the Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals where they lost, ironically, to the Lakers, who were then led by the late Kobe Bryant.

Howard was then traded to the Lakers in 2012 as they attempted to build a superteam of him, Bryant, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol. However, a gnarly rash of injuries derailed their hopes, and they ended up getting swept in the first round of the 2013 playoffs.

The big man left the following summer in free agency, and he started to bounce around from team to team while gaining a reputation as a prima donna and malcontent. Therefore, when the Lakers brought him back in the summer of 2019, many were skeptical he would contribute.

But he certainly contributed, as he embraced a bench role and helped them win an NBA championship. After playing the 2020-21 season for the Philadelphia 76ers, he had a third stint with L.A. last year, but much like his first stint, it ended in dismal fashion as it again failed to win with a superteam.

This year, the Lakers have remade themselves after several midseason trades. Those trades have taken them to the Western Conference Finals, where they now trail 2-0 to Denver.

After they dropped Game 1, Howard implied that only he could stop Denver dynamo center Nikola Jokic. Indeed, he did a decent job on him in the 2020 Western Conference Finals, but Jokic is now leaps and bounds beyond where he was then.