Dwight Howards summer: L.A. Riot and a Hall of | College News

Dwight Howard is the splash signing of the Los Angeles Riot, Ice Cube’s BIG3 three-on-three basketball league introduced Wednesday.

Howard, 39, guarantees to have a busy summer time highlighted by two days particularly.

The former Lakers middle shall be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Sept. 5, half of a class that additionally contains Carmelo Anthony, WNBA stars Sue Bird, Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles, coach Billy Donovan and the 2008 U.S. Olympic males’s basketball workforce (of which Howard was a member).

And Howard will lead the Riot of their one and solely home sport of 2025, scheduled for Aug. 9 on the Intuit Dome.

That’s proper, the lone alternative for L.A. followers to watch the Riot of their home metropolis is to circle that day on a calendar, buy a ticket and attend the sport. The BIG3 format is for all eight groups to play on the identical day in the identical metropolis, so 4 video games will happen in succession on the Clippers’ $2-billion enviornment in Inglewood.

Each workforce will host a related one-day occasion televised by CBS. The eight-game common season begins June 14 at Allstate Arena, home of the Chicago Triplets, and ends Aug. 17 at American Airlines Center, home of the Dallas Power. The championship sport is TBA.

The Riot shall be coached by Nick Young and embody co-captains Elijah Stewart and Jordan Crawford along with Howard. Young, Stewart and Crawford gained the BIG3 Championship as half of the Enemies in 2023.

Stewart, 29, performed at USC from 2014 to 2018 and at Westchester High. Crawford, 36, performed six years within the NBA after being a first-round draft choose of the New Jersey Nets in 2010.

Howard joins a BIG3 roster of a number of vital offseason signings for the league together with Montrezl Harrell and Wesley Johnson. In addition to L.A., Chicago and Dallas, the BIG3 home markets embody Boston, Detroit, Houston, Miami and Washington, D.C.

“I’m excited to join Ice Cube and the BIG3 — especially right after being inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame,” Howard stated in a assertion. “Words can’t describe how grateful I am for these opportunities. I can’t wait to join the LA Riot and try to bring another championship to the city of LA. But, the ultimate goal I have is to help the league go global.”

Expanding the BIG3 outdoors the U.S. is an element of Ice Cube’s plan for the league, which enters its eighth season. First on the agenda, although, is staging a season the place for the primary time groups are related to cities.

“Dwight Howard is a perfect fit for the league, not just because of his athleticism and size but also due to our shared desire to grow the game of basketball around the world,” Ice Cube stated in a assertion. “We are honored that he has chosen to bring his game and star power to the BIG3.”

Howard averaged 15.7 factors and 11.8 rebounds in 1,242 video games throughout 18 NBA seasons that included three separate stints with the Lakers. He led the NBA in rebounds for the fifth time in 2012-13 with the Lakers, returned in 2019-2020 to help them win the NBA championship and completed his profession in L.A. in 2021-22.

Howard performed for seven NBA groups and was paid $248 million during his profession. He performed in Taiwan and Thailand the final two years.

“On behalf of the entire league, I want to be the first one to welcome Dwight Howard to the BIG3,” Ice Cube stated. “His legacy speaks for itself, and he still has fun playing the game.”