It seems like Dwight Howard is following the footsteps of Wilt Chamberlain, one of the best players in NBA history who curiously played for both the Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers, winning championships with each franchise. Howard just won his first NBA championship with the Lakers in the Orlando bubble and now is ready to help the Sixers play for big things and actually compete in the Eastern Conference.
Last season was a nightmare for them and after some major changes, Philly is ready to place a serious bid for the NBA championship. Howard is one of those guys that landed there trying to help the team and he’s already trying to enamor Sixers fans. As soon as he landed in Philadelphia, he had nothing but good things to say about Joel Embiid, tipping the player to do big things this upcoming season and during his career.
Moreover, Howard paid respect to one of the biggest idols in Philadelphia, none other than Wilt Chamberlain. The controversial player won his first championship with the Sixers in 1967, one year before he made the move to the Lakers. Howard is now trying to emulate Chamberlain and he even claimed that Wilt is his favorite player ever.
“That’s my favorite player … Wilt is my favorite player. I’ve looked up tons of videos on him, I have a Wilt Chamberlain painting in my room … I was about to get ‘Wilt Chamberlain’ tatted on my arm right here. He’s my favorite player, and he’s one of my favorite people in life. The thing that he did was sacrifice,” Howard said in 2019, ahead of the start of his second stint with the Los Angeles Lakers.
“A lot of time it’s hard for us to sacrifice, because we want to be that person, when the only thing that matters is getting another trophy. And when Wilt decided ‘Hey, I’ve done all the scoring, I’ve done all the other stuff, let me just do what this team is asking me to do,’ he had one of the best seasons of his career. He won a championship. I want to have that same approach, and bring out the will inside of me and help this team win,” Howard said.
More recently, Howard doubled down on those comments. During his introductory press conference with the Sixers, he said the same thing, expressing his honor to defend the Sixers’ colors.
… I'm going to give this team, my team,[my all] and I know he's watching everything, and hopefully we can all benefit."
— Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) November 25, 2020
Now his career could be pretty similar to Wilt. He already made sacrifices last season and the results were great. Now he’ll continue to do the same and see if his commitment to this franchise pays off for him. Just like Rajon Rondo did with the Celtics and Lakers, now Howard has the chance to become a champion with the Purple and Gold and the Sixers, emulating what Wilt did back in the day.
