Dwight Howard
Accolades: 8x All-Star, 8x All-NBA, 5x All-Defense, 3x Defensive Player of the Year, 5x League-Leader in Rebounds, 2x League-Leader in Blocks, 2004-05 All-Rookie First Team, 2020 NBA Champion, 11th All-Time in Rebounds, 13th All-Time in Blocks, 59th All-Time in Points
From about 2006 to 2014, there may not have been a better overall big man in the league than Dwight Howard. Not only did he lead the league in rebounds five out of the six years from the 2007-08 season to the 2012-13 season, but it was almost a guarantee that Howard was going to have a double-double every single time he stepped foot out on the floor.
In an era where you gave the ball to the big man in the low-post and got out of the way, Dwight Howard was an electric player in his prime and is still contributing in the league today at almost 36-years-old.
A sure-thing Hall-of-Famer when he retires, Howard truly is one of the best centers in NBA history. His 2008-09 season was one of the best of his career, as he averaged 20.6 points, 13.8 rebounds, 2.9 blocks and shot 57.2% from the floor, helping lead the Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals, where they came up short of beating the Los Angeles Lakers for their first title in franchise history. That season, Howard finished 4th in the MVP voting, the highest a true center finished in the MVP voting at the time since Shaquille O’Neal finished 2nd in 2004-05.
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Throughout his career, Dwight Howard has been ridiculed for multiple things and while he has popped up on Shaqtin’ A Fool multiple times, his career has been tremendous. From being at the top of the league in terms of greatness at the time to falling to rock bottom, only to find his footing again and win a championship with the Lakers in 2020, Howard has literally done everything you can as a player in this league.
To say he deserves to be on this NBA list over others is a little disrespectful to the greatness of all the players included in this list, so we are not going to sit here and breakdown where Howard ranks amongst some other big men on this list, but it is worth noting that Anthony Davis was included in this list.
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Davis is now in his 10th season in the league and is a tremendous talent, but he has not nearly accomplished all that Dwight Howard has in his career. Matching him with 8 All-Star appearances is quite impressive, but he has half the amount of All-NBA selections Howard has, Davis has never led the league in rebounds, whereas Howard did it 5 different times, and most importantly, AD has never been named Defensive Player of the Year.
Leaving Dwight Howard off this NBA Top-75 list, even though his numbers and accolades are better than some on this list, is quite disrespectful and just flat-out wrong. No matter what you think of him, Dwight Howard is a top center of all-time and will be a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer when he retires soon.
