Despite very nearly sitting out of the NBA reboot, Dwight Howard appears locked in on the goal of winning a championship. The Los Angeles Lakers big man was in the NBA Finals almost a decade ago when he was still with the Orlando Magic. He’s now back in Orlando but he’s wearing purple and gold and could have his best chance yet at winning a title.
That’s a big reason why he decided to keep playing amid concerns. Now that he’s in the NBA bubble, Howard revealed a bold promise he made to himself via Instagram.
“I promised myself if we ever got back we wasn’t gonna lose. I pray the most high gives us another chance. Right here in Orlando. Where it all started for us,” the caption reads.
It would be poetic if Howard came back to Orlando and won a championship even if it’s with a different team. Though he isn’t the dominant big man he once was, he’s still a very important piece for the Lakers. The team is very fortunate that he decided to play.
Howard Got Snitched On?
While Howard has made the trip to the bubble and has every intention of playing, apparently he’s going to need to be more careful. The NBA has introduced a “snitch hotline” to help players who are breaking the rules to be held accountable. One of the players who has been “snitched” on already is Howard who said someone “told on” him because he wasn’t wearing his mask around the Orlando campus.
Out of the potential violations that could happen, it seems like not wearing a mask wouldn’t require too much punishment. It sounds like Howard likely just received a warning. That said, this shows that players are more than willing to “snitch” on others and they should be careful not to break any rules. Some are taking this NBA reboot very seriously and aren’t going to jeopardize their chance at a title.
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Jared Dudley Thinks Players Should Be Able to Trash Talk
With the NBA set to return soon, there won’t be any fans in attendance for games. There’s talk of putting in artificial crowd noise, but Lakers veteran Jared Dudley has a different idea.
“If I was the NBA, I know obviously there’s inappropriate language at times but throughout most of the game there’s not, but I would have a camera so you could hear,” Dudley told the media Thursday. “This is the one experience we’re trying to sell for the fans at home.
“We don’t have a crowd, so what’s one thing we can give you that we were never able to give you guys before? That would be the in-game experience of what’s trash-talking, hearing ‘Bron talk to refs, hearing James Harden when it comes to trying to get a call from a ref, trash-talking with Pat Bev and other people. I think fans are intrigued by that. I think they want to hear what people have to say and I think it can bring excitement.”
It would certainly be a different experience to be able to hear players more clearly throughout the game. There would obviously be concerns because of likely foul language but it’s an interesting idea proposed by Dudley.
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Lakers’ Dwight Howard Sends Message to NBA With Bold Promise