Dwight Howard raised some eyebrows last month when he claimed that he had a greater prime than Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic.
Howard was asked about those comments during an interview with The Score and he unsurprisingly doubled down on them.
“Of course! What person would not take theirself?” Howard said.
Well, you can never really blame someone for having confidence in their own abilities. Dwight was then asked how he would have guarded Jokic, as no one in the league seems to have an answer for the Serbian right now.
“I think especially in my prime, I was super athletic,” Howard said. “I studied a lot of players and where they would take a lot of their shots and I’d probably figure out a way to make him have to work for each one of his shots. Kind of like I did when we played them in the playoffs (2020 Western Conference Finals), going to the Finals with the Lakers. Pressure him full court and obviously, he’s gotten a lot better. But just for me, I’d just try to harass him, use my body, use my wingspan, my power just to make him have to work.”
How would current @DwightHoward guard Nikola Jokić right now? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/cAjCvUO8E2
— theScore (@theScore) June 10, 2023
Howard went on to say it’d be a chess match between a great defensive player and an offensive powerhouse. Dwight did win three Defensive Player of the Year awards in a row from 2009 to 2011 and in those three seasons, he averaged 20.5 PPG, 13.7 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1.1 SPG, and 2.7 BPG. In his prime, he could have been one of the few players who had a shot at slowing down this version of Jokic.
It is not an exaggeration by any means to say that the Serbian is on one of the greatest playoff runs in NBA history at the moment. In these 2023 playoffs, he has put up ridiculous averages of 30.1 PPG, 13.3 RPG, 9.8 APG, 1.1 SPG, and 1.0 BPG while shooting 54.0% from the field. Rudy Gobert, Deandre Ayton, Anthony Davis, and Bam Adebayo have all tried their best to stifle the Joker but he has gotten the better of all of them.
Dwight Howard Wants To Play In The NBA Again
The lack of interest in his services among NBA circles last year led to Howard heading to Taiwan to continue his professional career. While he has had a lot of fun there, he does want to come back, as he stated he hasn’t retired from the NBA. Howard added he would love to join the Sacramento Kings and help them win a title.
He had also previously said that he would love to finish his career in the NBA and hopefully win a title as well. Unfortunately for Howard, the chances of any team bringing him in when he’s a year older don’t seem great but you certainly can’t fault him for hoping a call comes his way at some point.
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