Getty Image / Gene Wang
Former NBA champion and 8-time NBA All-Star, Dwight Howard, is currently playing pro ball over in Taiwan for the Taoyuan Leopards.
Dwight’s most recent contract in the NBA was with the Los Angeles Lakers who, coincidentally, have the same colors at Howard’s team in Taiwan, the Taoyuan Leopards. Most NBA fans wouldn’t know this fun fact about Dwight’s new team if a recent clip didn’t go viral.
During a game this week between Dwight Howard‘s Taoyuan Leopards and the TaiwanBeer HeroBears a brawl broke out. It happened when the player wearing the #0 jersey (Chen Hsiao-jung) elbowed the player in the #14 jersey (Chiang Yu-an) across the face.
It’s unclear if the initial elbow was intentional but what happened next was chaotic.
A brawl broke out in Taiwan's T1 League as Taoyuan Leopards guard Chen Hsiao-jung elbowed TaiwanBeer HeroBears guard Chiang Yu-an in the face.
🎥: @DimeUPROXX pic.twitter.com/dICT7iNnC1
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) February 22, 2023
Everyone’s reaction was the same: ‘Dwight Howard is playing in Taiwan?’
This is a guy who earned $245,142,483 in the NBA over 18 seasons and he’s now 37 years old and playing in Taiwan… Why? Does he really have that much love for the game of basketball?
The refs took stern action on everyone involved. There were 12 players ejected from the game, including Howard. But Dwight’s team went on to win 120-102.
In terms of the significance of this ejection, it probably ranks 2 out of 2 in Dwight Howard’s basketball career. He was ejected from Game 4 of the opening round of the NBA Playoffs in 2013 when his Lakers faced the Spurs. Dwight got ejected and the Lakers got swept.
There are possibly other ejections in his career but these are the only two coming to mind at the moment.