Dwight Howard says he lost the opportunity to invest in his city’s WNBA team.
During a sit-down interview on his “Above The Rim with DH12” podcast, Howard — who last played in the NBA in 2022 — explains he had the opportunity to become an owner of the Atlanta Dream. This was an interest to him because he wanted to support his daughters, in the event they had aspirations to follow in his footsteps in the professional league.
“It was a group of people who was all in it together. My plan that I had was, I was looking to buy the Atlanta Dream, the basketball team for women. So I was like, ‘Man I want to really do this ’cause I got two daughters,'” Howard explained on the podcast. “One day they’re going to want to play basketball. I can set it up to where they can play for the Atlanta Dream one day when they get older.”
The 6-foot-10-inch hooper, who was an active player in the league at the time, says he put a team together and invested $7 million into the deal. He was also showing his commitment by meeting with the team’s general manager and owners. His mother, Sheryl, also attended various games since she had season tickets.
Howard had high hopes that the deal would go through, but ultimately it never came to fruition.
“So, we put this little group together, and at the time the NBA, ’cause I’m still playing, the NBA said that I couldn’t own the team outright myself, because I was still playing,” he explained. “So I was like ‘OK I can have a group be like the face the team right now, and then I could be behind the scenes making all the decisions and stuff.’ I had talked to the GM, I had talked to the owners from the team, like I really thought that this was going to be my team. So I gave the group the money, and the next thing I know I didn’t hear from the people no more.”
He adds he later learned on the news that another group had secured ownership. In the midst, he was also out of $7 million, which he believes was stolen.
“They took the money, and I hardly never heard from them. The conversations got less and less and less from my agent. And then he kept saying, ‘Man, they won’t call me back. I can’t get in contact with them.’ I’m like, ‘Man you lying. What y’all got going on,'” Howard recalled. “I really trusted this agent because he’s my agent. He has a duty to tell the truth and be honest with me, but these agents these lawyers, all these people be scheming. They be lying and they got the same motive, and that’s to take from you.”
As a result of this incidence, the three-time Defensive Player of the Year says he now emphasizes to his kids to have all their affairs in order.
“You got to really train these kids on how to move in this society because I don’t want my son to have to, or my daughters or anyone, to have to deal with losing hella money because that’s what I work for,” he said.
