Dwight Howard is one of the most decorated centers of all time, with multiple DPOYs, an NBA championship, and plenty of All-Star selections to his name. However, it seems as though some people once doubted his ability to make it to the league, let alone have an amazing career.
There was once a time when Magic Johnson told Dwight Howard that he wouldn’t make it to the NBA. On an episode of the Hood Stocks podcast, Dwight Howard stated that when he met Magic Johnson as a sophomore in high school, the legendary point guard told Howard that he was “too small” to make it as a player in the league.
I met him in the 10th grade and he told me I wasn’t going to make it to the NBA. So it kind of motivated me. He said, ‘You’re not going to make it to the NBA. You’re too small.vYou ain’t got the size.’ All that. I just took that as motivation. He was actually my favorite player, him and Wilt Chamberlain. I didn’t have TV or DVDs and stuff, so I had a VHS tape of Magic Johnson workouts, and I did that everyday.
While Magic Johnson is certainly one of the best players that have ever set foot in the NBA, but he was definitely off the mark on Dwight Howard. Dwight Howard was a player that was once a No. 1 option on an NBA Finals team. Dwight Howard did even more than just make the league: he became an all-time great.
Dwight Howard was one of the biggest snubs from the NBA 75 list, but it’s clear that many fans and analysts thought that he should have made it based on his career. Despite that though, he’ll always be remembered fondly by Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic fans, and his legacy is set in stone.
