Dwight Howard would like to think that he left behind a legacy when he was traded from the Orlando Magic to the Los Angeles Lakers. He is the Magic’s franchise leader in points, rebounds and blocked shots. However, Howard never won a championship with Orlando and left the team on sour terms. And now he expects the Magic to essentially retire his jersey number?
In a recent interview with Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, during which Howard said he left the Lakers because he “had to do what was best for Dwight,” the 27-year-old admitted he would have liked his former team to block players from wearing No. 12. The jersey is currently worn by 21-year-old small forward Tobias Harris.
“I just think that despite whatever happened, there was a lot of things that I did and that we did as a team, and that number was special down there,” Howard said. “And I was a little bit upset about that.”
Howard also expressed regret for the way his career in Orlando ended. That being said, how delusional is this guy? No one is saying the Magic have to despise him, but is everyone just supposed to forget about the way he embarrassed the team with his phony relationship with Stan Van Gundy toward the end? Or how about all the reports that he was disgusted with Orlando and wanted out, all of which were followed with infamous Dwight denials?
As a side note, Harris is wearing No. 12 to honor a close friend of his who died from leukemia at age 17. We’re assuming Howard was unaware of that.
Maybe Howard will win a championship with the Houston Rockets and the fans will love him. Perhaps some day his number will be retired in Houston. But as of now, he doesn’t exactly have massive fan bases in Orlando and LA. Why should he?
H/T Ball Don’t Lie
