The OKC Thunder find themselves in quite an unfortunate situation when it comes to the current state of their frontcourt rotation.
This offseason, Sam Presti and company made it a priority to address their lack of size by signing 7-foot center Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency. With him joining forces with 7-foot-1 stud pivot Chet Holmgren, many believed Oklahoma City had finally managed to address arguably their biggest rotational weak spot down at the five.
Unfortunately, however, as of this writing not only do the Thunder find both of these players sidelined due to injuries, but beloved backup big Jaylin Williams has also been sidelined with his own health-related ailment (hamstring strain) since before the preseason.
Because of this, over the better part of the past week coach Mark Daigneault has had no choice but to roll out an extremely small lineup with 6-foot-5 natural wing Jalen Williams slotting in as the primary center option.
Now, while such an experiment has, in fact, proved to be successful, as the Thunder have gone 2-0 with J-Dub at center, from both the eye-test and, frankly, the advanced metrics it's evident that they could certainly use for some extra frontcourt reinforcements as they have been absolutely outmatched in both the rebounding and second-chance points departments.
Because of this, many have gone about and discussed several outside talents who are believed to be worthy of OKC's consideration, and, recently, one veteran has personally thrown his name out there as a possible option.
Dwight Howard pitches himself as possible center option for Thunder
During a recent appearance on KG Certified w/ Kevin Garnett, eight-time All-Star, three-time Defensive Player of the Year, and 2020 NBA Champion Dwight Howard publicly expressed an interest in making his return to the NBA to help fill out the Thunder's currently depleted center depth.
"OKC, ya boy is ready! What's happening? Y'all need a big... Y'all need a vet. Y'all need somebody who's gonna bring some energy... Me and AC together, Alex Caruso, championship. I'm just saying, we did it before... Y'all already got a superstar. Y'all just need somebody who knows how to play defense," Howard said.
Howard would continue on to boldly say "I'd go to OKC right now" if the Thunder actually had an interest in his services.
The former 6-foot-10 superstar sports career averages of 15.7 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks. He last played in the NBA during the 2021-22 season with the Los Angeles Lakers, where he posted 6.2 points and 5.9 rebounds on 61.2 percent shooting in 16.2 minutes per game.
Since then, he has brought his professional career overseas where he played for the Taoyuan Taiwan Beer Leopards of the Taiwan Professional Basketball League for the 2022-23 season, dropping per-game averages of 23.2 points, 16.2 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 1.2 blocks per game.
Though it's clear that the Thunder could use some big man reinforcements with their recent injury woes, considering he'll soon be 39 years old, has been out of the association for over two years now, and has a reputation for being a poor locker room presence, it's safe to assume that, even with the fact that he's a sure-fire future Hall of Famer, Dwight Howard is not at the top of their wish list.