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A Dwight Howard Comeback? 'Superman' Sends 'Sign Me' Message to Dallas Mavs
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- A Dwight Howard Comeback? 'Superman' Sends 'Sign Me' Message to Dallas Mavs
Dwight Howard wants back in the NBA ... via Dallas.
Howard posted "Mavs try another Dwight" on X on Wednesday, nine days after the Dallas Mavericks waived Dwight Powell .
Howard - who turns 41 on Dec. 8 - might just be having some fun here with the idea.
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He has retired twice since March.
The first came on March 12, when Howard announced he was finished playing. In September, he signed with Black Fortress Tbilisi, a newly promoted club in the Georgian Superliga, and he made his debut against Iverioni Gori with 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks in 17 minutes of a 75-70 loss.
Against Tbilisi State University in his second game, Howard had 10 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 blocks in 19 minutes. Black Fortress lost 89-82 to fall to 0-3, and the club confirmed afterward that the Oct. 17 game was his last, according to Eurohoops .
Eurohoops published it at 10:59 a.m. CT on Oct. 19, 87 minutes after the Mavericks announced they had waived Powell.
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Dallas Moved On From Dwight Powell
Powell's Sept. 25 deal was for the minimum. It came with $1 million guaranteed, and that number was going to climb to $1.5 million if he was still on the roster for opening night.
Dallas was already carrying 15 guaranteed standard contracts by then.
On Saturday, Oct. 17, Hoops Rumors laid out the other ways to get to 15: releasing Moussa Cisse, Caleb Martin, or Marcus Sasser, each of whom would have cost the Mavericks more guaranteed money than Powell.
In July, Cisse signed a two-year, $4.7 million offer sheet with the New York Knicks, and Dallas matched it in under 12 hours.
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Only four players appeared in more games for the Mavericks than Powell's 763: Dirk Nowitzki, Brad Davis, Derek Harper, and Rolando Blackman.
He shot 60.6% from the field in that time, fourth-best in team history, and pulled down 3,251 rebounds.
"Dwight was the consummate professional throughout his 12 seasons with the Mavericks," Mavericks president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri said in a statement.
Boston sent rookie Powell, the 45th pick from Stanford, to Dallas with Rajon Rondo on Dec. 18, 2014. He averaged 6.5 points and 4.2 rebounds as a Maverick.
Last season, he appeared in 63 games, starting 12, and averaged 3.3 points and 4.1 rebounds.
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Kyrie Irving, acquired from the Brooklyn Nets in 2023, became the longest-tenured Maverick when Powell left.
"Just finding out, it's a little heartbreaking," Irving said, per The Dallas Morning News .
Through camp, Powell competed for the backup center job under first-year Mavericks coach Dusty May.
"Dwight has been very valuable so far to us," May said on Oct. 15.
If no team claimed him, Powell would become an unrestricted free agent on Oct. 21.
Mavericks Have a Long History With Dwight Howard
After Orlando drafted Howard first overall in 2004, he won three straight Defensive Player of the Year awards.
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In December 2011, he requested a trade, listing Dallas, New Jersey, and the Los Angeles Lakers as his preferred teams.
After averaging 17.1 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks in 76 Lakers games, 27-year-old Howard entered free agency in July 2013.
Then-owner Mark Cuban, Nowitzki, coach Rick Carlisle, and GM Donnie Nelson met him in Los Angeles with a comic-book-style video portraying Howard as a hero.
That June, Nowitzki said his recruiting amounted to a little phone contact, nothing daily.
"I reached out to him and told him we'd love to have him," Nowitzki said .
The Rockets signed him to a four-year, $88 million contract on July 13, 2013, after meetings with the Warriors, Lakers, and Hawks earlier that month.
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In an email to our Mike Fisher, then at 105.3 The Fan, Cuban said Dallas gave it a shot and it did not work out.
"Just got word we are out of the Dwight Howard sweepstakes," Cuban wrote .
Years later, Cuban sat down for "The Roommates Show," co-hosted by Jalen Brunson, the guard Dallas lost to the Knicks in 2022 free agency.
"Dwight Howard, for sure," Cuban said when naming his most disappointing free agency pursuit with the Mavericks.
Howard Has Not Played in the NBA Since 2022
Howard's run of eight straight All-Star selections ended in 2014. He got his ring six years later as a reserve on the 2020 Lakers.
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Los Angeles was also where his NBA career stopped, after 60 games in 2021-22 at 6.2 points and 5.9 rebounds a night, and he finished with 1,242 regular-season games at 15.7 points and 11.8 rebounds.
After the Lakers, Howard spent 2022-23 with the Taoyuan Leopards in Taiwan and played for a Philippine club at a tournament in Dubai in January 2024.
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inducted him the next year. Five months after his March retirement, he suited up for the SG Apes in Mongolia.
Mavericks Are Thin at Center
Dallas has not had Dereck Lively II this season.
The center had season-ending surgery on his right foot in December 2025 and was not cleared for the start of training camp .
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The Mavericks listed him out for Wednesday's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Santi Aldama, recalled from the G League's Texas Legends on Tuesday, was listed as doubtful with a knee injury.
Daniel Gafford had 8 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists on 4-of-5 shooting in Monday's 113-109 win over the Miami Heat. He fouled out. Gafford was also charged with a technical foul and a flagrant foul.
Rookie Morez Johnson Jr. scored 6 points and picked up 4 fouls in Miami. Dallas drafted him ninth overall in June.
Dallas is 2-2. The Rockets won the Oct. 21 opener 128-110 in Houston, and the Mavericks lost 122-106 to the San Antonio Spurs at American Airlines Center on Oct. 24, a night after winning 121-105 in Indianapolis.
Tip-off against Oklahoma City is set for 8:30 p.m. CT Wednesday. Houston comes to Dallas on Friday for a 7 p.m. CT start.
