Getty Dwight Howard of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Dwight Howard revealed that someone reported him on the NBA’s anonymous tip hotline at the NBA bubble in Orlando, Florida.
Appearing on Instagram Live, Howard says “someone told on me” – an individual anonymously reported Dwight for not wearing a mask. The Los Angeles Lakers center was given a warning.
The coronavirus pandemic halted NBA basketball play on March 11.
NBA Set to Resume After Layoff
The NBA will resume play on July 30 at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
22 NBA Teams will compete to fill the league’s 16-NBA playoff spots in both the NBA’s Eastern and Western Conferences with the NBA Finals expected to finish no later than October 13.
The Los Angeles Lakers currently sit at 49-14 and in first place in the NBA’s Western Conference standings.
Now in his second stint with the Los Angeles Lakers this season, Dwight Howard, 34, is averaging 7.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per contest for the purple and gold.
An 8-time NBA All-Star, Howard was the first pick in the 2004 NBA Draft by the Orlando Magic. Howard, an Olympic gold medalist, made a trip to the 2009 NBA Finals where the Magic were defeated by the Kobe Bryant-led Lakers.
Howard is a five-time All-Defensive Team member, has won the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year Award three times, and he’s also an NBA Slam Dunk Contest winner.
Dwight Howard’s Battle With Injuries
Injuries have not been kind to Howard in past seasons. Two summers ago, the Washington Wizards signed him after he was traded from the Charlotte Hornets to the Brooklyn Nets before eventually being bought out.
When on the floor for the Wizards, he was effective. He averaged 12.8 points and 9.2 rebounds in 25.6 minutes per game.
Despite the 6’11 center missing most of the 2018-19 season due to injury, Howard signed with the Lakers via free agency last summer after a freak injury to DeMarcus Cousins made a roster spot available.
“He had a surgery that removed a disc from his back the size of a big cookie,” Howard’s former Lakers teammate, Metta-World Peace told me on a recent Scoop B Radio Podcast episode.
“And he had that thing in his back and he was coming back early…man, people were expecting him to be the same; you have to give it some time. I mean, the Laker fans were really hard on him; they were way to hard on him. He was coming off a back surgery out for a year. I mean what more do you expect? So now, he’s kind of the same person. He’s a great player.”
READ NEXT: Sixers’ Tobias Harris Admits ‘Our Biggest Competitors Are Ourselves’