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After displaying as much as the WWE SummerSlam Tryout in Nashville on Thursday, three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year and present free agent Dwight Howard stated that he’s prepared to maneuver to professional wrestling and be a part of the WWE if he doesn’t get an opportunity to play basketball once more in 2022.
Howard confirmed as much as the SummerSlam tryouts with a promo the place he impersonated Sho’nuff, the villain from the 1985 movie The Last Dragon, in entrance of Triple H. Speaking to Arash Markazi of ESPN, Howard shared the he believes becoming a member of the WWE is in his future, because the No. 1-overall choose within the 2004 NBA Draft stays unsigned after the tip of his third stint with the Los Angeles Lakers.
“I like the WWE. I like wrestling … I’m grateful and grateful for this chance to be right here and simply witness this entire factor, tryouts and every thing,” Howard stated. “Hopefully sooner or later sooner or later I’ll truly be within the ring wrestling and maintain up the belt. That can be wonderful.”
At 36 years outdated, Howard said that he needs to proceed to play within the NBA, saying he believes he nonetheless has years left in him and that he needs to have the ability to finish his profession on a excessive be aware. But in saying so, Howard implied that his supreme state of affairs would entail transferring on to the WWE as soon as that occurred.
“I like basketball, it is my ardour. I nonetheless have years left in me,” Howard stated. “I’d positively like to play and simply finish my profession on a excessive be aware, a terrific be aware, after which transition to one of the best enterprise on this planet, the WWE.”
Sweetening the deal for Howard can be the truth that the WWE Performance Center is positioned in Orlando, FL, the identical place the place he began his NBA profession and have become a star. Howard was chosen No. 1-overall by the Orlando Magic in 2004, the place he turned a perennial NBA All-Star and gained Defensive Player of the Year honors three years in a row from 2009 to 2011.