There was a time, during his Orlando prime, when Dwight Howard was among the most dominant players in basketball, leading the NBA in rebounds five times while garnering three straight Defensive Player of the Year Awards from 2009-11. Despite his early promise, Howard would spend his later career in obscurity, culminating in forgettable stints with the Lakers, 76ers, Wizards, Hornets and his hometown Hawks.
But even at the height of his hoops stardom, Howard could never shoot a lick (his 56.7 career free-throw percentage is the eighth-lowest in NBA history), which is why fans were stunned to see the 37-year-old—now playing overseas for the Taoyuan Leopards—compete in a three-point contest as part of this week’s All-Star festivities in Taiwan.
The former No. 1 pick got off to a slow start by missing six of his first seven shots, but rallied late to finish with a respectable 15 points, which, believe it or not, would have beat two participants—Kevin Huerter (eight) and Julius Randle (13)—at the NBA Three-Point Contest held in Utah earlier this month. Howard, who claims to shoot 1,000 jumpers daily, documenting his improvement on social media, has made 10 of his 38 three-point attempts this season (26.3 percent), marginally better than his lifetime 21.4-percent success rate in the NBA (22-of-103).
Still, it took guts for Howard to display a skill that was never his strength, risking embarrassment and humiliation, albeit in the relative low stakes of Taiwan’s top professional league. Howard’s final years in the NBA may have been anticlimactic, but he seems to have found his niche in T1, leading the league in rebounding (14.4 per game), while also contributing 25.8 points (second-most) and 6.0 assists (third) per game. Howard, who is one of only a handful of Americans playing in T1, would go on to win All-Star MVP honors, nearly putting up a triple-double with 37 points, 15 boards and eight assists.
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