A lot of people don’t like Dwight Howard. Most of those people are probably Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets, or Orlando Magic fans. However, one person could’ve been temporarily added to that list recently: Dwight Howard’s mom.
This past offseason, Howard was being courted by multiple teams in the NBA. Eventually, the big man signed a three-year $70 million contract with his hometown Atlanta Hawks. Before signing with his hometown squad, Howard pranked his mom.
While speaking with teams, Howard told his mom a team far away had offered him a great contract. That team was the Utah Jazz.
“She started crying,” Howard said on CBS Sports Radio’s The Doug Gottlieb Show. “I said, ‘Mom, I’m sorry, I was just joking. I’m coming home to Atlanta.’ She was super happy. My family was super excited. This city has been great.”
At least he quickly told her he was kidding and didn’t let the joke play out.
Howard’s decision to go back home as been a great move, but then again, it is still early in the season. Atlanta is 7-2, which is the second-best record in the Eastern Conference behind 8-1 Cleveland. Howard is also averaging 15.2 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game.
“(Mike Budenholzer) made it clear to everybody once we came in for our first day that there’s a lot of areas we needed to improve on as a team,” Howard said. “One was the defense as far as rebounding on the defensive end. Two was physicality. Three was just the intensity and the competitive spirit that we bring to the game. That’s something that he talked about from day one. He really put it on me to be the catalyst for that – to be the guy that’s going to rebound, block shots, defend and run the offense and then dominate the paint.”
You can hear Howard’s whole interview here, along with how he told the story of pranking his mom into believing he was considering the Jazz.
