While it would have been perfectly fine for former Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard's next stop to be Springfield, Massachusetts, and the Basketball Hall of Fame, the big man has some unfinished business he wants to attend to first -- and he will be doing so in his old stomping grounds.
Howard is set to reunite with one of his former Lakers teammates this summer as, according to Chris Haynes, he has agreed to join Ice Cube's BIG3 and will play his final season of professional basketball as a member of the Los Angeles Riot, who will be coached by none other than Nick Young.
This will mark the first season where BIG3 teams represent specific cities and the Riot have certainly made quite the move to bolster their roster by adding a defensive presence like Howard to the fold.
Howard won a championship with the Lakers during the 2020 Bubble at Disney World. In addition to his title with the Purple and Gold, Howard achieved a number of individual milestones that led him to reach the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The center was named to eight All-Star teams, a five-time First-Team All-NBA selection, a three-time Defensive Player of the Year selection, and a Slam Dunk Contest champion, among other accolades.
The other seven cities that will be represented by BIG3 teams this coming summer are Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, the DMV area (Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia), Houston, and Miami. Each city will host a weekend of BIG3 action over the course of the regular season with Los Angeles scheduled to host a slate of games at the Intuit Dome on Aug. 9.
Young will not be the only former Laker to roam the sidelines of the BIG3 this summer, either, as Michael Cooper will lead the Miami 305 roster while Gary Payton is calling the shots for the Boston Ball Hogs.
Howard will make his Riot debut on June 14 when he, Young, and the rest of Los Angeles' roster travels to the Allstate Arena in Chicago for the opening weekend of play.