Dwight Howard has a compelling case to one day be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He’s a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, eight-time All-Star and NBA champion.
But before Howard is eligible for enshrinement, he has to be fully retired from the NBA for four full seasons. He is seemingly trying to make a return to the league however, as he made a pitch to the Oklahoma City Thunder — who are without Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein at the moment thanks to injuries — on Kevin Garnett’s podcast not long ago.
🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️ @okcthunder ⁰⁰Dwight Howard is game-ready 👀
Stay on the lookout for more from Ticket & @DwightHoward: https://t.co/hKGMgsx9eY pic.twitter.com/a2vb0Yu96e
— All the Smoke Productions (@allthesmokeprod) November 14, 2024
Former Los Angeles Lakers star big man Shaquille O’Neal and Howard have been going back and forth on social media after the latter challenged the former to a fight on the night of the boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul. O’Neal claimed on Monday that he will only face off against Howard if the 38-year-old gets enshrined in Springfield, Mass.
“If you woulda read it, noticed it says NBA vs NFL with that being said you can box a NFL guy and then if u win, then u can get The jones of the big man #thegoat #onlyonesuperman, u wait til i’m fifty to challenge me that’s funny just join the show and let’s whoop some NFL guys,” O’Neal wrote on X. “And if u make it to the hall of fame then well do it.”
If Howard doesn’t make a comeback with the Thunder or any other team this season, he won’t be eligible for enshrinement until after the 2025-26 campaign, considering he last played in the NBA in the 2021-22 campaign.
But the Thunder make sense as a landing spot for Howard for more than the fact that the team is depleted at the center position right now. Howard would also bring veteran leadership and playoff experience to a Thunder team whose superstar, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, is just 26 years old.
Plus, he would seemingly have a real chance to win his second NBA title if he were to join the Thunder in the near future. At 11-3, Oklahoma City owns the second-best record in the Western Conference and is loaded with talent and depth.
Whether it’s in a few years from now or more far off in the future should Howard make an NBA comeback, folks should consider it incredibly likely that Howard — one of the better big men the game of basketball has seen — will be memorialized in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame at some point in time.
