Dwight Howard might be more like Shaquille O’Neal than we realized. It isn’t just the ‘Superman’ moniker or the Orlando Magic love that the two bigs have in common. Howard also shares Shaq’s desire to own a basketball team. In fact, he came close to it once, only for his former agent to betray him.
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During an episode of his talk show, Above The Rim With DH12, the 2o2o NBA champion disclosed how his former agent robbed him of $7 million. When one of the co-hosts asked Howard how he felt upon first finding out, the former NBA big took a deep breath and answered, “What was my mental? My mental was I wanted to find him and beat the h*ll out of him. Like, I wanted to kill him.”
If being defrauded out of his own money wasn’t bad enough, Howard’s story gets more heartbreaking. You see, in 2020, Dwight was looking to purchase a stake in a WNBA team. His reason wasn’t philanthropic or entrepreneurial; he just wanted to do it for his kids.
“My plan that I had was, I was looking to buy the Atlanta Dream. The basketball team for women. And so I was like, man, I wanna really do this cause I got two daughters. One day they’re gonna wanna play basketball. I can set it up to where they can play for the Atlanta Dream one day when they get older,” the father of five explained.
Since Dwight Howard was still an NBA player at the time, he couldn’t outright own a basketball team himself. So he decided to pursue the move with a group of investors. His plan was to let the others perform as the “face” of the group while Howard finished out his NBA career. He still wanted to be in charge behind the scenes and had even had conversations with the Dream’s ownership and front office.
That gave DH12 a sense of confidence in the deal. “Like I really thought that this was gonna be my team. So I gave the group the money, and the next thing I know, I didn’t hear from the people no more. They start disappearing. And then I looked online, it was breaking news. They said that some other people had bought the Atlanta Dream,” the eight-time All-Star recalled.
In March 2023, Dwight Howard’s former agent was arrested on felony charges. Court documents revealed how he had used the $7 million to fund his own purchases. Thankfully, this would not be the end of Dwight’s ownership dreams.
Earlier this year, the former DPOY announced that he had become a part-owner of a Taiwanese basketball league and of one of its teams, the Taiwan Mustangs.
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He is now the first and only hooper to own a stake in the league they play in. If Dwight Howard is able to attract more big names and grow his investment, it could become an enticing draw for other NBA players late in their career. And who knows, it might even pave the way for Howard to give WNBA ownership another shot.
