Stop us if you have heard this one before, but Dwight Howard’s departure was evidently precipitated by some chemistry issues with his teammates.
Speaking Wednesday on SiriusXM NBA Radio, retired former Charlotte player and current basketball analyst Brendan Haywood spoke on Howard, who was traded to the Brooklyn Nets for Timofey Mozgov. Haywood revealed that the ex-All-Star center was not exactly well-liked in the Hornets’ locker room.
“The locker room hated Dwight Howard,” said Haywood. “I’m not sure if Charlotte is rebuilding or if they’re just trying to get Dwight Howard out of there, but it was clear the locker room did not like Dwight Howard.
“It’s simply because of how he goes about his business day-to-day in that locker room,” Haywood added. “Now he’s not the guy going around slapping people in the face. But [he’s] hard to deal with, doesn’t accept responsibility, cries a lot, has bad tendencies, awful body language. So all these things contributed to why he was shipped out of Charlotte … People I talked to behind the scenes, guys were just sick and tired of his act.”
The 32-year-old Howard was only on the Hornets for one season and actually had strong averages of 16.6 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per game. He now heads to the Nets, who will be his sixth team in the last six years.
Of course, Howard’s reputation as a bad teammate and a negative locker room presence has been proven time and again by now. Even former teammates from his last NBA stop don’t exactly have the best things to say about him.
More must-reads: