Dwight Howard Says He Spoke to Nets, Brooklyn Wanted a 'Big That Can Shoot'

Dwight Howard has made 22 three-pointers in 18 seasons during his career, which apparently is nowhere near enough for the Brooklyn Nets to consider signing him.

During a discussion with Shannon Sharpe on the Club Shay Shay podcast, Howard revealed he spoke with the Nets as a free agent but they told him "they need a big man that can shoot."

That presumably rules out Howard, who has connected on 21.4 percent of his three-point attempts during his career. In fact, he never made more than two triples in a single season until the 2019-20 campaign when he made three.

To his credit, he has shot more threes of late and went 8-of-15 from deep last season when he was a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. While it is a small sample size that doesn't exactly mean he will suddenly be Dirk Nowitzki from beyond the arc, it was still a solid showing when he was asked to fire.

It follows that Brooklyn would ask for a big who can stretch the floor.

After all, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant draw much of the attention from opposing defenses, which opens up space on the outside for all of their teammates. A center who could work in a pick-and-pop with the two offensive leaders would pose a number of challenges for defenses attempting to account for so many threats.

That hasn't been Howard throughout his lengthy career even if he did shoot well for the Lakers.

Still, the 36-year-old is a future Hall of Famer with a resume that includes eight All-Star selections, five rebounding titles, two block titles, an NBA title, eight All-NBA selections, five All-Defensive nods and three Defensive Player of the Year awards.

He is well past his prime and was a secondary contributor at best for the Purple and Gold last season at 6.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 0.6 blocks per game, but teams could presumably do worse for a deep bench option in the frontcourt.

It seems like that team won't be the Nets.