Dwight Howard admitted that he’s contemplating to hit retirement due to his reluctance to play a minimal role off the bench.
Joining Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson’s All The Smoke show, Howard provides his personal perspective on entering another free agency stage of his career.
“I wanna play, but at the same there’s like no teams that really wanna allow me to play,” Howard said. “That’s how I’ve been feeling from the last situation with the Lakers.
“I felt like I did enough to help them win a championship to really deserve a spot on the team and a chance to start and get big minutes, and it didn’t happen. So after that I was like, ‘Man, I don’t wanna have to bust my ass for another whole summer, train three-a-days, go on a crazy diet, do all this s–t and then get back to a team and sit on the bench or not get to really help somebody win.’ … And it’s been like, ‘Damn, do I wanna just call it quits and do some other stuff or go back at it and show people I still got it.'”
The last time Howard tasted a full season start was with the Charlotte Hornets in the 2017-18 season. Since then, he accustomed himself to play in reduced minutes as he enters the twilight stage of his hall of fame career.
Due to the fact that the game has changed and now small ball-centric filled by launching threes, extreme spacing and fast-paced game, the likes of Howard, who is considerably a traditional big man, is more of a dying breed now. His presence in the paint and towering presence isn’t very much needed nowadays, as these components are subject for offensive exploitation by opposing teams.
In last season with the Lakers, the center posted 6.2 points, 5.9 boards in 61.2 percent shooting for 16.2 minutes played. At age 36, these averages stood up solid for Howard.
But If he wants to have another major role, it may take up some time before he lands one.
