Dwight Howard’s rebound season will continue where he started his NBA career.
The Los Angeles Lakers Center, who appeared as a guest on CNN tonight with Don Lemon on Monday, said to the guest: “Yes, I will join my team in Orlando,” after there was some uncertainty about his status for the league restart. at the end of the month.
Howard said he will donate the rest of his salary for the 2019-2020 season – around $ 700,000, according to ESB front office expert NB Bobby Marks – to a charity initiative, Breathe Again.
“I have a contractual obligation with my teammates, with my fans, the Lakers, the organization and everyone, but at the same time, I also have an obligation towards my family and my community,” Howard said. “We will do a lot of work here in Atlanta and across the nation to make sure people don’t forget about us and what’s going on in our communities.”
Howard, who started breathing again through his D12 Foundation in 2015, said he restarted the campaign.
In a letter published on the Breathe Again website – which is currently out of service – at its launch, Howard wrote: “My sadness has deepened as I watch people plant themselves firmly on one side or the other, usually based on the race We need a new perspective, a new life. We have to breathe again. Oxygen represents life. We have to fill our bodies with new life. It is time for us to look beyond the color, the postal codes, the problems and look at the causes and solutions “.
Howard conducted the interview with Lemon from his home in Georgia, where he fulfilled the NBA home quarantine and test protocol required of all players to participate in Orlando, a championship source told ESPN last week.
The 34-year-old big man took care of his 6-year-old son David during the break, along with other family members. David’s mother, Melissa Rios, died of an epileptic seizure on March 27 at her home in Calabasas, California.
Lakers’ vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka told reporters last week that the team was working with Howard; his agent, Charles Briscoe; the NBA Players Association; and the league to navigate the veteran center’s “mitigating circumstances” and find a solution for him to join the team in Florida.
Howard, in his sixteenth season after being drafted n. 1 by Orlando Magic in 2004, averaged 7.5 points on a 73.2% career shot with 7.4 rebounds and 1.2 blocks and has appeared in all Los Angeles games except one before of the season suspended in March.
Howard made a statement to CNN through Briscoe last month that initially led the Lakers to believe he could have given up on the rest of the season.
“What better time than now for us to focus on our families? This is a rare opportunity which, I believe, as a community we should take full advantage of,” says the statement, in part. “When did we ever have this time to sit and be with our families? This is where our unity begins. At home! With the family !!”
Howard also participated in calls led by teammate Avery Bradley, as well as Kyrie Irving, put together to offer players an outlet to share dissenting concerns and opinions together about the league’s restart plans – including the need to focus on racial inequality and systematic inequalities in this country – in order to try to shape the NBA’s approach.
“During my time on the bubble, I will use that time to talk about Breathe Again and I will use my salary – all the money, the salaries I will get from going down the bubble, to help push this Breathe again. [initiative], push the movement out and just make sure people don’t forget what’s going on in our society, “Howard said.
The Lakers planned to fly as a team from Los Angeles to Orlando on Thursday to rejoin their league quest at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex.
“I feel we have a great opportunity, the Lakers do, for winning a title this year,” said Howard.
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