It would not be a Dwight Howard speech without an impersonation of Stan Van Gundy, even if he promised he would avoid it.
As Howard spoke Saturday at the Naismith Pro Basketball Hall of Fame ceremony and thanked all the players, teammates, coach and influences in his life, he could not avoid thinking about his run to the 2009 NBA Finals with the Orlando Magic. He could not avoid the influence that Van Gundy had on him.
And so, mustering up his highest pitch, whiniest voice with Van Gundy in the audience laughing along with him, Howard recalled Van Gundy's best advice to him.
"Stan, I want to say, because of you, I am in the Hall of Fame. As I said before, there is no Dwight Howard without Stan Van Gundy. You taught me what it means to stay ready. I still remember in the Playoffs you had us doing plays for guys who never even got in the game. I remember you saying, 'Listen, you never know.' But you were right, Stan. In basketball and in life, you've got to stay ready."
Through all the joking and all the jovial nature, this was a perfect encapsulation of Howard's career.
He would seem like a happy-go-lucky guy and not taking anything seriously, but he was absorbing everything. He was turning it into something to learn and apply on the court. Something that would fuel his Hall of Fame career.
The story of Howard's career was often written by what he was not.
He was not the serious laser-focused killer that Kobe Bryant and LeBron James were. He was not the dominant low-post scorer that Shaquille O'Neal or Patrick Ewing were. He could not measure up to the already nostalgic days of the 1990s.
Often, his joy and his smile were used against him to criticize him. Always a bit sensitive, Howard sometimes took this personally and struggled to find his identity. He wanted to be what everyone could watch and enjoy.
But Howard built his Hall of Fame career by being himself. He built it by dominating on the court with a smile and finding joy in everything. In his best years, he was both serious and joyful. That smile and happiness are a superpower that led him and his team to some memorable playoff runs.
As Howard entered the Hall of Fame, joy took center stage.
A lesson in every joke
The Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony is not a serious occasion. It is a celebration with the inductees telling stories and thanking those who helped them get to the pinacle of the sport. They are telling their stories.
And Dwight Howard, is not anything but a lively storyteller. He is not anything but someone who enjoys the limelight and hopes to display some of that joy to whoever is watching.
As he thanked his presenters, he took an aside to thank Bill Russell and Dikembe Mutombo (two Hall of Famers who have passed on but still have major influences in the game). He thanked Russell for his book, Russell Rules, which Howard said taught him to view the game in a different light and taught him about leadership.
He thanked Mutombo as one of the best shot blockers and defenders in the league, someone who Howard played against and surely watched when he played with the Atlanta Hawks when Howard was in middle and high school.
The somber moment quickly turned back to joy as Howard gave a playful finger wag and impersonated Mutombo's deep, gravely voice.
Even as he seriously went through his career and the lessons he learned, he took a moment to smile and keep the audience laughing.
As Dwight Howard made his way to thanking each of his presenters, he thanked Patrick Ewing for not only being his coach (with the Magic during the Stan Van Gundy days) but also his mentor. He then cracked the joke that he wanted to win every game so he could mimic Ewing's outstretched arm celebration following the New York Knicks' win in the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals, slowly goading Ewing to join him in celebrating on the stage in Springfield this weekend.
There were a lot of thanks to give, but Howard was going to bring with him his trademark joy. That was the ultimate lesson of his career and in his life.
"This journey has not been easy," Howard said. "I have been through many storms on and off the court. I have never allowed those to wash me out. Instead, I kept smiling and shining bright because I knew it would only rain for so long. And I never forgot how blessed I am."
That was always the story with Howard. He was all about joy.
Seriousness was overrated
That trademark smile was often the point of criticism throughout Dwight Howard's career, cited as a reason he never climbed the mountaintop until the end of his career.
Sports Illustrated asked the question in its 2009 NBA Playoffs preview issue: "Too Much Fun: Can the [Orlando] Magic's dunk machine get serious for a moment?"
That cover followed Howard throughout his career. But it was true. Howard seemed to care more about having fun on the floor than the serious business of winning.
But even Kevin Garnett recognized that Dwight Howard became someone different when the ball tipped off. He said in Howard's introductory video during the enshrinement ceremony that while he was joyful and
Congrats to @Hoophall Class of 2025 inductee, Dwight Howard! pic.twitter.com/1k0ef2gxF9
— NBA (@NBA) September 6, 2025
"One of the things that grew with Dwight was his dominance," Garnett said in the video. "When he was young, he was always in a fun-loving, high-spirited way. But then he hit the court and he became something else."
Joy was a deep part of Howard's personality. And depriving him of that smille was like Kryptonite to Superman. Howard was at his best when he was smiling and yucking it up. He was always good enough to carry his team deeper into the Playoffs.
He may not have always been what everyone wanted him to be. He may have approached life and the game differently from everyone else.
But there is no doubt that when Howard was on the floor, you could feel the joy emanating from him. You could feel the happiness he played with when he was at his best.
Howard brought that joy to Springfield. He made that joy his legacy.