A week after pitching himself to the Philadelphia 76ers, Dwight Howard walked off a court in Tbilisi for what his Georgian club says was the last time. It’s the second time in seven months the 40-year-old Hall of Famer has said goodbye to basketball.
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Black Fortress Tbilisi billed Saturday’s home game against Tbilisi State University as Howard’s final career game. He finished with 10 points and four rebounds in 19 minutes of an 89-82 loss, and Georgian fans sent him off with chants and applause. That was the end of a two-game stint in the Georgian Superliga. Howard hasn’t commented since the game. When he announced the move to Georgia in September, though, he told fans it would be the last time they saw him on the court.
“Philly what we doing,” he wrote in the post, which also mentioned that Howard looked “NBA ready during his debut in Georgia.”
In his debut on October 10, he had 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting, seven rebounds and three blocks in 17 minutes of a 75-70 loss to Iverioni.
The timing made sense. The 76ers had just lost center Ariel Hukporti to a season-ending Achilles tear. Howard also spent the 2020-21 season with the Sixers as Joel Embiid’s backup, between his two stints with the Lakers
In Los Angeles, he won the 2020 title alongside LeBron James, and James signed a two-year, $8 million deal with the Sixers in July. A reunion with both the franchise and his old teammate was not that difficult to imagine.
It never got close. The Sixers are hard-capped near the first apron and have little room to add salary. On Saturday, the same day Howard played his final game, they filled their last two-way spot with another center, 7-foot-6 Tacko Fall.
The iconic Lakers player has had one of the most powerful careers in the league. He even earned a place in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, but the story gets interesting.
Dwight Howard is now 40 years old, and this isn’t the first time he’s said he was done.
On March 12, 2026, he had already announced his retirement from basketball. “Woke up today on the 12th of this month and I figured it’s time to move on from Superman!” he wrote in an X post, referencing his nickname.
“Im no super human… I cry ! I struggle! I feel like everyone else. Through the lies, the media and the hate I still show love and Smile Through The Storm. But now Im taking off the cape and retiring from all basketball to pour into my family and give back to communities worldwide.”
So, did he retire from all basketball right then? Not really. Howard arrived in Mongolia on September 7 and played a preseason game for the SG Apes two days later. The next day, Black Fortress announced he was coming to Georgia. Two games later, he’s walking away again.
To make it abundantly clear, Howard only seemingly hinted at his interest in rejoining the 76ers. It didn’t look like a commitment, and the team hasn’t really expressed an interest in signing him up.
It’s an unusual way for a Hall of Fame career to wind down: inducted in 2025, retired in March, and back on the court in two countries by October. Whether this goodbye is final or not is anyone’s guess.