Dwight Howard Returns to Basketball Six Months After Retirement Announcement

Dwight Howard, who announced his retirement from basketball in March, is returning to the court six months later. The Basketball Hall of Fame center, inducted in 2025, will play for Black Fortress Tbilisi in the Georgian Super League.

Howard, 40, confirmed his signing in a social media post, noting the geographical distinction between his hometown Atlanta, Georgia, and the Eastern European nation of Georgia. "Georgia, I’ll be on my way! Not my hometown, Atlanta, Georgia, but Tbilisi, Georgia!" he wrote. "I saw all your flags in the comments on my last post and decided that’s where we should take the journey!"

Black Fortress recently earned promotion to the Georgian top division. The Georgian Super League is not considered among the premier overseas leagues, which include Spain's Liga ACB, Italy's Serie A, Australia's NBL, and France's LNB Elite.

Howard stated his intention to "spread the game of basketball" with his new team. He officially retired from the NBA in March, citing a desire to spend more time with his family.

Since his final NBA season with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2021-22, Howard has had a varied international career. He played for the Taoyuan Leopards in Taiwan's T1 League during the 2022-23 season, where he averaged 23.2 points, 16.2 rebounds, and five assists per game. He also participated in the 2024 Dubai International Basketball Championship with the Philippines-based Strong Group Athletics and later joined the Taiwan Mustangs for an Asian Tournament. In 2024, he signed with Puerto Rico's Mets de Guaynabo but did not play a game. In 2025, Howard joined Ice Cube's BIG3 league, playing for the Los Angeles Riot.

Selected first overall in the 2004 NBA Draft by the Orlando Magic, Howard spent 18 seasons in the league. He earned eight All-Star selections and eight All-NBA honors, and was a key player on the Magic team that reached the NBA Finals in the 2008-09 season. Howard also won three consecutive Defensive Player of the Year awards from 2009 to 2011 and was named to the All-Defensive team five times.