Getty Image / Chris Trotman
Back in the prime of his career, Dwight Howard was one of the most dominant players in the NBA.
Howard averaged a double double in each of his first 14 NBA seasons, leading the league in rebounding 5 times.
He was the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year for 3 consecutive seasons while he was with the Orlando Magic.
He was an All-NBA first teamer for 5 consecutive years.
He even led the Magic to an NBA Finals appearance without another real star playing alongside him.
One thing he never did was win an NBA MVP.
In spite of that, it seems Howard is convinced his prime was better than the prime of a player that has recently won a pair of MVPs.
Howard told Complex’s Zion Olojede that he believes he was better in his prime than Nikola Jokic is in his.
Prime for prime, Dwight Howard is taking himself over Nikola Jokic. 👀
LINK TO DWIGHT'S FULL INTERVIEW WITH COMPLEX: https://t.co/8mgJKjKC06 pic.twitter.com/FqG3I7Slbd
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) July 6, 2023
“Yeah, of course. Obviously, people going to say Jokic can score. He got all those offensive skills. But at the same time, I was getting 38 and 20, 45-18, 19, 20, and I’m doing all this with twos. No threes, all twos. I’m doing this with lobs. I’m not getting a lot of post-up attempts like Jokic. He’s getting way more opportunities I would say as far as to show his low post game and all that stuff. And I was just in a different era.
So, people look at that and say, “Well, Jokic, he scores and does all this stuff.” And no offense, I think he’s great. I love Jokic. I don’t want people to think that I’m trying to hate even comparing, but I’m going to take myself. I know how dominant I was and I know what I could do with my skills. And on the defensive end and on the offensive end I was quick enough to get past everybody.”
A prime Dwight Howard would have had one major edge over Nikola Jokic and that’s his defensive ability.
However, Jokic has some pretty big edges of his own. Jokic has proven that he can stretch the floor with his jump shot, something that Howard never did in the NBA.
The former Magic big man was also never much of a distributor while Jokic excels in that facet of the game.
Dwight Howard was a great player at the peak of his career, but it’s just hard to make the argument against Nikola Jokic with his recent body of work featuring a pair of MVPs and a dominant run to an NBA title.