Taiwan league star Dwight Howard believes he belongs in the NBA: ‘I want to go out like a champ like I’m supposed to’

After a first season dominating the Taiwanese basketball league, Dwight Howard is ready for another adventure in his almost 20-year career. The former All-Star has recently expressed he wishes to return to the NBA, as he considers it the best way to hang up his basketball shoes.

As he attended an interview with Complex Sports this week, the 37-year-old was convinced he still has a lot to offer any franchise in the league. As he’s not bound to any club by contract this summer, he’s hoping an NBA squad reaches out to him.

Let’s not forget, the three-time Defensive Player of the Year was a fundamental part of the title-winning 2020 Los Angeles Lakers, as he backed up superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis in their pursuit of the championship.

“I know that there’s at least 15 to 20 teams that I could play for. And I know there’s teams that got great starting centers, but I know I could be a great backup center,” Howard said. “I know I can provide a team with 25 minutes of dominant basketball… I just want to go out like a champ like I’m supposed to.”

Last month, the veteran big man said farewell to all his fans in Taiwan after a single campaign playing for the Taoyuan Leopards:

During the interview, he also shared his appreciation for being part of the purple and gold squad back in 2020, expressing how special it would be to relive a similar situation this upcoming campaign.

“That’s how we feel about the Lakers” Howard added. “Man, it’s just something that we got this connection. I don’t know. It got to work. It got to work. But I do love the Lakers, man. We had the championship run there and I wish we would’ve had a chance to keep going because that was the squad right there. We had everything. We had everything.”

The six-foot-nine athlete has no doubt that he still has at least one more season in him and desires to be given one last opportunity to say his farewells to the league.

ESPN expert Kendrick Perkins also believes that the Los Angeles team should sign Howard as backup for AD once again

The Lakers were probably one of the biggest surprises of last season, having started poorly and ending their playoff run in the Western Conference Finals against none other than Nikola Jokic’s Denver Nuggets.

Nevertheless, former player and current ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins is convinced that the Los Angeles squad still needs to add more depth to their frontcourt, and believes Dwight Howard might be the man for the job.

"Damn it, if they didn't win, who did? No one had a better offseason than the Los Angeles Lakers."

The offseason winner is clear for @KendrickPerkins 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/DZSM7B0XDM

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) July 10, 2023

“Absolutely, they killed it. A+ it,” Perkins said this week about the Lakers this past campaign. “…If they didn’t win it, who did? No one had a better offseason than the Los Angeles Lakers from what they started with a year ago. Now, do they need to finish it?

“Absolutely. And they need to go out and they need to either re-sign Tristan Thompson and bring him back or go out and get a guy that won the NBA championship for you…and I know he’s older, but it’s always great to have an adult in the room that’s gonna know his role in a guy like Dwight Howard. I feel like that would also be a perfect fit. But as far as Rob Pelinka, he did his thang, he did his thang.”