Arriving in perhaps the most high-profile trade in franchise history last summer, Dwight Howard made it quite evident this season that he still has plenty of gas left in the tank despite now being 14 years into his illustrious NBA career.
After spending one season with his hometown Atlanta Hawks, Howard was acquired by the Hornets last June in exchange for Miles Plumlee, Marco Belinelli and a swap of second-round picks. Howard’s impact was instantly felt in Charlotte as he provided a much-needed rebounding, rim-protecting and defensive prowess the team had lacked in recent years.
Many around the league have been anticipating Howard’s imminent decline for some time now, but a relentless commitment to his off-the-court physical maintenance has left him in outstanding condition at age 32. The big man missed just one appearance this season after earning a league-mandated one-game suspension for technical foul accumulation.
Howard’s most impressive game of the year came on March 21 in Brooklyn, when he finished with 32 points and a career-high 30 rebounds in a franchise-record 23-point comeback road win over the Nets. With this performance, he became just the second player since 1982 and 10th overall in NBA history to record a prestigious 30-30 game.
On what felt like a nightly basis, the future Hall-of-Famer was rewriting the franchise’s record books in a dominating manner while gradually moving up many of the NBA’s all-time leaderboards. One of the best players of his generation, Howard’s 2017-18 campaign showed he still has a handful of high-level years remaining in his extraordinary NBA career.
Dwight Howard Through the Season
Check out scenes of Dwight Howard during the 2017-2018 Season.
By the Numbers
- Howard finished the season ranked third in the NBA in rebounding (12.5), fourth in double-doubles (53), ninth in blocks (1.62) and 11th in field-goal percentage (55.5 percent). He also averaged 16.6 points over 81 total appearances, his highest marks, respectively, since the 2013-14 and 2009-10 NBA seasons.
- He now owns the franchise’s single-season records for total rebounds (1,012), defensive rebounds (757) and double-doubles (53). Howard also broke the Hornets’ single-game rebounding record with a career-high 30 boards on March 21 at Brooklyn and already has the most 20-rebound performances overall in franchise history as well (7).
- Howard has now averaged at least 12.0 rebounds in 11 different NBA seasons, tied for the third-highest total in league history behind only Wilt Chamberlain (14) and Bill Russell (13). He’s also one of just three players to average a point-rebound double-double in each of his first 14 NBA seasons (Chamberlain and Moses Malone).
- Heading into next season, Howard ranks eighth on the NBA’s all-time defensive rebounding leaderboard (9,454), 12th in offensive rebounds (3,647), 14th in total rebounds (13,101) and 17th in blocks (2,047). He also has the sixth-most double-doubles (719) and fourth-most double-digit rebounding games (780) amongst any NBA player since the start of the 1983-84 campaign as well.
What’s Next
Howard has one season remaining on a three-year contract he signed prior to the start of the 2016-17 NBA season. As of now, he is scheduled to enter unrestricted free agency next summer and would be free to sign with any team.
Exit Interview Quote
“I felt like we definitely had the right type of talent to make this season a very good year, but things didn’t turn out that way and that happens sometimes. It’s how you come back from disappointments. I think we were all disappointed the way we finished the season and the only thing we can do now is take a break, detox and get ready for next year.” – Dwight Howard