In his prime, Dwight Howard‘s superstardom was comparable to the likes of Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. The eight-time NBA All-Star’s stocks might have taken a dive since then, but his dominance on the NBA hardwood is still fresh in the memories of fans. Howard recently refreshed those memories after sharing a post of the 2009-10 All-NBA 1st Team on his Instagram post. The elite list included some of the biggest names in the league ever. Dwyane Wade, who was just inducted into the 2023 Hall of Fame, reacted to Howard’s post hyping up the grand list, which included him and his decorated peers. Interestingly, Wade’s reaction came just 81 days after he backed Howard’s case to be included in the NBA 75th Anniversary team.
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Howard has legitimately established himself as one of the top centers in the NBA through his exploits the league. Therefore, Dwyane Wade had expressed his shock when he came to know about the exclusion of Howard from the NBA’s top 75 players. The three-time NBA Champion said that whatever perception there might be about Howard in NBA circles, his achievements are actually undeniable and should be acknowledged.
Dwyane Wade hypes up Dwight Howard in his IG post about the 2009-10 All-NBA First Team
The 2009-10 All-NBA First Team had a legendary lineup composed of the best players in the league at the time. The decorated list included Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Dwyane Wade, and Kevin Durant. All the players on the list are well-deserving NBA champions today. Back then, Howard had entered the 2009-10 season with a Defensive Player of the Year award and LeBron with the league MVP award. Moreover, the list had Kobe Bryant on it, who was the reigning NBA Finals MVP.
Howard shared the post from Complex, captioned, “The 2009-10 All-NBA First Team is the most loaded ever.” The former Los Angeles Lakers player captioned his post saying, “I agree… changed the game.” Wade commented on the post, while hyping up the list, “Some bad boyz,” with a fire emoji. The 2023 Hall of Fame inductee also shared the post on his IG Story.
Wade laughed at Howard talking about loyalty in 2012
Wade and Howard share a mutual respect that has been apparent in the past few months. However, back in 2012, Wade took a low blow at the 2020 NBA Champion for bringing up loyalty in an interview. Just a year before he joined the Lakers, Howard waived his option to terminate his contract with Orlando Magic. According to a CBS report, Howard said that “he loves the organization, loves the city, loves his teammates…he’s a loyal person and wanted to stay and try and win a championship in Orlando.”
The “loyalty” term perhaps did not sit well with Wade, who perhaps thought that the former Magic star might be taking a shot at LeBron’s infamous “The Decision.” Hence, came a shot at Howard. By then, Wade had already become a very protective brother to James. However, later D-12 clarified that he did not take a shot at the four-time NBA champion and he had no problem with the way LeBron handled his free agency.
