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The Golden State Warriors are mulling over adding eight-time All-Star center Dwight Howard to get bigger in their thin frontcourt.
The Warriors will meet with Howard next week to discuss his potential fit, according to a report from The Athletic.
The 37-year-old Howard last played in the NBA during the 2021-22 season, with the Warriors’ conference rivals the Los Angeles Lakers. He spent last season in Taiwan’s T1 league.
Howard is far removed from his dominant form, which made him a three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year from 2008-09 to 2010-11, but he could still be a depth player on a championship-caliber roster, like he was in 2019-20, when the Lakers won the NBA title and he got his first ring.
The Warriors recently added 6-foot-10 Usman Garuba, but at 21 years old, he is viewed as a project by a team trying to extend its title window with an aging championship roster.
Howard’s size and veteran presence could come in handy for the Warriors, especially against the bigger teams in the stacked Western Conference, such as the defending champion Denver Nuggets and their two-time MVP, Nikola Jokic, and the Lakers, with Anthony Davis.
Howard averaged 6.2 points and 5.9 rebounds across 60 games with the Lakers in his last NBA stint two seasons ago.
Oldest Five-Man Lineup?
If the Warriors bring in Howard, will we see the oldest five in today’s youthful NBA?
The 37-year-old center could join a lineup with 38-year-old Chris Paul, 35-year-old Stephen Curry, and a pair of 33-year-olds in Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. If Howard were to come aboard, he would play behind Kevon Looney and Green, possibly competing with Dario Saric as the third-string center.
Such will not be the case for the older Paul, who is expected to start alongside Curry ub the Warriors backcourt on his first season with them, according to ESPN and Andscape’s senior writer Marc Spears.
“I do expect him to start. And I think it’s like five-minute spurts,” Spears said on the September 7 episode of “Good Word With Goodwill,” a Yahoo Sports Ball Don’t Lie podcast. “I don’t know that they really want his minutes to be high, but I think they’re gonna try it. I could be wrong, but that’s the gist I’m getting. This isn’t an opinion that he’s expected to start. It’s what I’m hearing. He’s never not started in his career.”
2 Warriors Stars Exempted From NBA Resting Policy
The Warriors can skirt the new NBA Player Participation policy, which aims to curb stars’ load management.
Under the new resting policy, a star is defined as any player who, in any of the prior three seasons, was selected to an All-NBA Team or an NBA All-Star team and the current season’s All-Star Game.
The Warriors have four players — Curry, Green, Paul and Andrew Wiggins recognized as stars. But there is an exception to the rule, which could benefit the aging Warriors core.
According to ESPN’s front office insider Bobby Marks, “The NBA will allow pre-approved designated back-to-back allowances for players who are 35 years old on opening night or have career workloads of 34,000 regular-season minutes or 1,000 regular-season and playoff games combined.”
Curry, 35, and Paul, 38, are two of the eight stars around the league who can be exempted from playing back-to-back games.
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