{"id":2138767,"date":"2026-09-11T01:29:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T22:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2138767"},"modified":"2026-09-11T01:29:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T22:29:11","slug":"dwight-howard-announces-he-will-play-in-georgia-but-not-that-georgia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2138767","title":{"rendered":"Dwight Howard announces he will play in Georgia, but not that Georgia"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Dwight Howard isn\u2019t done playing basketball. The 40-year-old center is signing to play internationally with Black Fortress Tbilisi of the Georgian A-League, according to the team\u2019s Instagram account.<\/p>\n

Howard, who hails from Atlanta, set his sights on the country of Georgia, despite having announced his retirement in March<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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In a previous Instagram post, Howard \u2014 who has played internationally since his last NBA appearance in 2022 \u2014 asked his followers to comment with the flag of a country he should play in for his next destination. Georgia ended up as the selection.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeorgia, I\u2019ll be on my way! Not my hometown, Atlanta, Georgia, but Tbilisi, Georgia!\u201d Howard wrote in the caption of the post announcing his signing. \u201cI saw all your flags in the comments on my last post and decided that\u2019s where we should take the journey!\u201d<\/p>\n

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View this post on Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A post shared by DH12 Above the Rim (@dh12abovetherim)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Tbilisi is the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

Howard indicated in the video announcing his signing that this would be the last time he took the court professionally. He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame\u2019s Class of 2025 before he announced his initial retirement from basketball in a post on X in March.<\/p>\n

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Black Fortress plays in the second division of Georgian basketball, with the Georgian Superliga being the top of the pyramid in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m coming here to spread the game of basketball, the game that I love,\u201d Howard said in Thursday\u2019s video. \u201cI cannot wait to start with the Black Fortress team, baby. Hey, we breaking everything down.<\/p>\n

\u201cWant to let y\u2019all know this is the last time that y\u2019all gonna see your boy on the court. But I will see you guys. You will see me for the last and first time on the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howard was selected with the No. 1 pick out of Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy in the 2004 NBA Draft by the Orlando Magic.<\/p>\n

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In eight seasons in Orlando, he led the Magic to the playoffs five straight seasons, including an NBA Finals appearance in 2009, and was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year three consecutive seasons starting with the 2008-09 campaign.<\/p>\n

Over the course of 18 NBA seasons, which included stints with the Los Angeles Lakers (three times), Houston Rockets, Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Washington Wizards and Philadelphia 76ers, he was an eight-time All-NBA selection, eight-time All-Star and five-time All-Defensive pick. He also won an NBA championship in the 2020 bubble with the Lakers.<\/p>\n

Following his final season in the NBA, Howard began a globetrotting career overseas, first playing for the Taoyuan Taiwan Beer Leopards of the Taiwan Professional Basketball League from 2022 to 2023. He signed with the Guaynabo Mets of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional in Puerto Rico in 2024, but he never played for them. He also had another short stint in Taiwan. Howard recently competed his second season playing in the Big3<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Dwight Howard isn\u2019t done playing basketball. The 40-year-old center is signing to play internationally with Black Fortress Tbilisi of the Georgian A-League, according to the team\u2019s Instagram account. Howard, who hails from Atlanta, set his sights on the country of Georgia, despite having announced his retirement in March. Advertisement In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-2138767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2138767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2138767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2138767\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2138767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2138767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2138767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}