Dwight Howard. Image via: IMAGN IMAGES
Hall of Fame Induction Marks Career Milestone for Veteran Player
The 40-year-old was officially inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2025. This honor concludes a distinguished career highlighted by eight All-Star selections and five All-NBA team nods. Additionally, he earned three Defensive Player of the Year awards and secured a championship ring with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, marking his third tenure with the franchise.
Dwight Howard is coming out of retirement, and he’s doing it more than 6,000 miles from home. The 40-year-old Hall of Famer has signed with Black Fortress Tbilisi, a club in the country of Georgia, and will join the team when its season opens in October. 12 jersey along with the caption “It’s official. Howard last played in the league during the 2021-22 season with the Los Angeles Lakers.
The signing comes barely six months after Howard announced he was walking away from the sport for good, and less than a week after he turned up in an exhibition game in Mongolia. Black Fortress confirmed the deal this week, sharing a photo of Dwight Howard in the club’s black and orange No. Signed. Earlier this month he posted that he was headed to Asia, then shared photos from Mongolia, where he suited up for the SG Apes in a preseason game just days before the Black Fortress deal was announced.
In March, Howard said he was stepping away from the game entirely to spend more time with his family. Contract terms haven’t been made public, but the move gives newly promoted Black Fortress an internationally known face for its top-flight debut. The Georgian Super League side earned its spot in the top division after winning the second-tier title, and landing a name like Howard’s gives it instant visibility heading into its first season among the country’s elite clubs. That decision didn’t last through the summer.
Since then his career has taken him through Taiwan, where he put up big numbers for the Taoyuan Leopards, and to Dubai, where he helped a Philippines-based squad reach the final of an international tournament.