Dwight Howard Praises Paolo Banchero and Magic’s Young Core: "They Got it, They’re Almost There"

Hall of Famer Dwight Howard reflects on his Magic legacy, praises Paolo Banchero, and sees big promise in Orlando’s future (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Dwight Howard is one of the newest members of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

The eight-time All-Star and three-time Defensive Player of the Year is a part of the Class of 2025, which also includes 10-time All-Star Carmelo Anthony and two-time national champion head coach Billy Donovan.

While Howard spent 18 seasons in the NBA — including winning a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020 — he’s best known for his tenure with the Orlando Magic, where he spent the first eight seasons of his professional basketball career after he was selected with the No. 1 pick in the 2004 NBA Draft.

Building Respect in Orlando

Howard says when he arrived in Orlando in 2004, he wanted to make sure opponents respected facing the Magic — something he says was missing when he initially arrived there.

“It was just a team that everybody, when they came to Disney, was like, ‘Hey, we can go to Disney World, Universal Studios before the game, have a good time. It really doesn’t matter about the Magic, we’re going to beat them anyway,’” says Howard in a one-on-one interview with RG.

It didn’t take long for Howard to accomplish that feat, shaping the Magic into contenders by the age of 23. After leading Orlando to a playoff series win in 2008 — their first since 1996 — he led Orlando to an NBA Finals appearance against the Kobe Bryant-led Los Angeles Lakers in 2009.

While leading the Magic to the Finals, he helped lead Orlando to a huge upset in the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals over the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers finished with a 66-16 record that season, the best mark in the NBA.

Although Howard’s Magic fell to Bryant’s Lakers, the former top draft pick had already cemented himself as one of the NBA’s best players in 2009. He already had a Defensive Player of the Year under his belt to go along with two All-NBA selections as one of the faces of the league.

Howard Reflects on His Rise and Legacy

Howard reminisces about how he helped lead the Magic to the NBA’s biggest stage in the Finals against one of the biggest legends in basketball history in the late great Bryant, whom the big man respects deeply. Howard would eventually team up with Bryant as members of the Lakers during the 2012–13 season.

“That’s crazy,” Howard says of his accomplishments at a young age and leading the Magic to the Finals in 2009. “

At 24, I don’t think people have really put that in their minds of how young that is. At 24, I’m doing these accomplishments that Kobe Bryant was doing at 30 in his prime. I was in my just-coming-out party.”

While the last half of Howard’s career wasn’t the same as it was during the first half — he clinched his last All-NBA and All-Star berth in 2014 — he proved to be an effective secondary and role player during the last few years of his career, finally winning a championship in 2020.

“They want to call it the bubble ring,” says Howard of when the Lakers won the title during COVID-19 when all the playoff games were played in Orlando. “It’s very disrespectful, because we had to put in a lot of work during a very difficult time in everyone’s life to win that championship.”

Howard says that playing every type of role during his NBA career, whether that was as the lead guy in Orlando or as a role player in Los Angeles, helped shape his Hall of Fame career and that he’s proud of it.

“The disrespect, it doesn’t even matter now — I’m satisfied,” says Howard. “I’ve made it to the Hall of Fame, this is the pinnacle of basketball for us. The Hall of Fame is someone who has gone through every single level and completed all the levels. It’s like getting that last degree black belt in Jiu-Jitsu or Karate. You’ve ascended, you’ve made it all the way to the top.”

A Bright Future for the Magic

Howard’s former team, the Magic, appear to be on the way up, led by All-Star Paolo Banchero and 23-year-old star Franz Wagner. After pushing the Cavaliers to seven games in a playoff series last season, they’ll look to return to the postseason this year after winning the Southeast Division. They’ll host a play-in game against the Atlanta Hawks to get in.

The former All-Star big man says the Magic are a “year-and-a-half away” from being true contenders and that they only need more shooters to get to that next level.

“But they got it,” Howard continues to say. “Paolo is a big boy, he can dominate like a Jokic can, but he’s more athletic. The Wagner boys are getting better. I would say they just need a little bit more shooting, just to keep everyone honest. If they had a five that could shoot, or put Paolo at the five.”

Howard will be playing in the BIG3 League for the first time this summer for the Los Angeles Riot. Although he’ll be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, Howard isn’t ruling out a potential comeback to the NBA. He even vouches for the Magic to bring him back to play with this current young core.

The 39-year-old was recently honored by the Magic in March after they inducted him into the team’s Hall of Fame.

“I really like their team, I really like what the Magic have done,” says Howard of his original team. “The Magic have a shot if they keep these guys together, they have a chance to do something special. They need to bring 12 back.”