During an Instagram Live, Lakers enter Dwight Howard said that teammate LeBron James gave him permission to take a 3-pointer for every two blocks he had this season.
Over the course of his 17-year career, Dwight Howard has amassed a total of 2,192 blocks for an average of 1.9 a game in his career. Had he been allowed to fire off a 3-point shot throughout his career for every couple of blocks he had, then he might have taken about 1,000 3-pointers up until now.
Well that new rule, initiated by Los Angeles Lakers teammate and leadman LeBron James, has incited an interesting challenge for the former Defensive Player of the Year.
While on Instagram Live, Howard quietly revealed that James permitted him to attempt a 3-point shot only after he had stuffed or swatted two balls in a game this season. It’s an exciting challenge for the 35-year-old center who has only averaged more than a block a game once in the last three seasons.
Per LeBron, Dwight Howard has to record two blocks for every 3 he attempts for the Lakers
The one time came during his second stint with the Lakers in 2019-20, which coincidentally, was the year he won a championship with James and Los Angeles. As a whole, the team led the league with total blocks a game (per Basketball-Reference.com). Last season, Howard left the Lakers for Philadelphia and fell just short of a block per game.
This new motivation will fall perfectly in line with the Lakers’ goal to maintain one of the best defenses in the league as they’ve done over the last two seasons, ranking third-overall in their championship season and first last year.
If Howard is somehow able to average that two blocks per game, a feat he hasn’t accomplished since his first stint in Los Angeles back in 2012-13, then we might see the big man fire off 82 threes this season. Although don’t expect him to hit many of them — over his career, he’s only hit 16% of his 3-point attempts with only 14 makes on 88 tries.
In the video, however, Howard insists that he’ll aim for way more than two blocks per game if that means he can get up a lot more attempts from downtown.
“I’m finna try to get nine blocks everyday,” Howard said.