Dwight Howard successfully recruits 2 ex-Lakers teammates to his team in Taiwan

Jan 15, 2016; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard (12) arrives at Toyota Center before a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Dwight Howard’s blanket recruiting is finally paying off.

Shams Charania of The Athletic reported Tuesday that the former NBA All-Star Howard has successfully recruited two of his former teammates to join him in Taiwan. DeMarcus Cousins and Quinn Cook will be playing with Howard on the Taiwan Mustangs during the Asian Tournament in July, Charania says.

Howard, Cousins, and Cook were all members of the Los Angeles Lakers’ 2020 NBA championship team (though Cousins did not actually play for the Lakers that year since he suffered a torn ACL before the season). Now they will be together again playing for the Mustangs, who compete in a league that Howard also now partly owns.

The 33-year-old Cousins, who was last in the NBA during the 2022-23 season, has already been playing in Taiwan. This year, he was with the Taiwan Beer Leopards of the T1 League and just led them to the league championship as the Finals MVP.

Meanwhile, the 31-year-old Cook has been with several teams overseas (in Russia, China, and Puerto Rico) since his last NBA stint in 2020-21.

Howard, 38, has been in Taiwan ever since 2022 (with the Leopards before Cousins got there and now with the Mustangs). He had made headlines with his humorous efforts to recruit numerous big NBA names to Taiwan, and now it looks like Howard has finally succeeded in a sense.