FORMER NBA star Dwight Howard is yearning for a stint in Asia’s first play for pay league.
“I’m eligible for the PBA. So, I think they gotta change the height requirements because I’m 6-foot-9 without shoes,” Howard said last Wednesday during the Strong Group squad’s open practice at the Urdaneta Village Covered Courts in Makati. “I hope they do that so guys like Dray (Andray Blatche) can come back here and play as well, you know we want to play in the PBA.
“If they change the height requirements, maybe we’ll see twin towers in the Philippines,” he added.
The PBA has a maximum height of 6-foot-9 without shoes for the Commissioner’s Cup and 6-foot-6 for the Governors’ Cup.
This 48th season only has two conferences–the season-opening Commissioner’s Cup will be followed by the Philippine Cup that means if and when a team signs him up and he makes the height limit, Howard can only play next season in the mid-season tilt.
Howard, 38, is suiting up for the Philippine side Strong Group in the 33rd Dubai International Tournament set for Jan. 19 to 28 along with naturalized Filipino and former Gilas Pilipinas cager Andray Blatche and former NBA cager Andre Roberson.
The likes of reigning UAAP MVP Kevin Quiambao of La Salle, former PBA import Mckenzie Moore, Justine Baltazar, Francis Escandor, Justine Sanchez, Allen Liwag, Tony Ynot, JD Cagulangan, and Jordan Heading make up the team.
A former three-time Defensive Player of the Year in the NBA who won a title with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, Howard is in awe of the basketball-loving Filipino fans’ passion for the game.
“It’s just the fans. I went to Taal Lake for a visit last year and met a lot of Filipinos out there and they said ‘you gotta come back to the Philippines because we love you’, so when Dray called me and asked me, I told him I’ll be free and I can make it possible,” he said. “The fans have been great even before I came, they are on TikTok, Instagram. Going around different places in the world, I’ve always ran into a lot of Filipino fans.
“It’s just a great opportunity. Dray (Blathce) asked me to come out and I said ‘yeah, where are we going?’ and he said the Philippines. I said, ‘Oh I gotta go.’”
