When the NBA released its Top 75 list in 2021, one of the biggest shocks was the omission of Dwight Howard from the list. Almost five years in, Dwight, Shaq, Gilbert Arenas, and most of the NBA community aren’t over it. But what about the names that were included? Rarely is it discussed that this or that player shouldn’t have been in there. Sam Smith, one of the panelists who compiled this list, had a confession about that.

Smith collaborated with former Bulls and Lakers coach Phil Jackson for his newest book, Masters of the Game: A Conversational History of the NBA in 75 Legendary Players. The book contains their stories on the NBA Top 75 players. While talking to Dan Patrick about it, Smith admitted not getting to include Dwight Howard in it stung.

Some NBA players turned podcasters ask who could be removed from the list to make room for Dwight. The Jordan Rules author had a name. “I thought some of the 75, you know, Damen Lillard, no offense, I didn’t think he was a Top 75 player. I think there was some recency bias in the list, but I had to get to 75. I think it was overall a pretty good list.”

“We used the NBA’s top 75 and, you know, no offense, but I thought there were too many. But it was 75 years; they had to go in 75. You know, sort of the controversial, if-would-be name was Dwight Howard. But he’s a Hall of Famer. You know, people look at it as a negative when you say, ‘Well, he wasn’t deserving of being in the Hall of Fame, you know, a Top 75,'” 

Smith was a panelist, but he seemingly didn’t get a vote on that. A year ago, media personalities like him, Stephen A. Smith, and Skip Bayless were getting trashed by Gilbert Arenas for excluding Dwight. But no one debates Damian Lillard.

Dwight Howard isn’t over the snub either

When the list did come out, many did question why Dame was on it. He had not won an NBA championship or the NBA Cup at that point. He had a few All-Star appearances and RoTY to his name at that point. Although the recency bias Smith talks about wasn’t that strong either. At that point, though, he had established himself as an offensive force averaging 24.6 points, 6.6 assists, and 4.2 rebounds over the course of nine seasons.

Meanwhile, Dwight Howard had just won a championship and had three DPOYs during that vote. Not that Dwight ever said he deserved the honor over Lillard. But the snub hurt Howard the most. It cemented that unspoken belief that his public persona undercut his underrated prime career. Damian Lillard’s qualification was not discussed beyond the first few weeks of the list. Yet Howard’s snub is still a sore topic.

Howard’s enshrinement into the Hall of Fame revived that debate. Dwight was asked about it during the HoF weekend in September and that hurt is still raw. But getting acknowledged as an NBA player and as a key player on the 2008 Redeem Team was healing. “The great part about it is, I’m going in two times. The 75, yes, it hurt. It was like a big slap in the face not to be on that team. But to go in the Hall of Fame, not only for what I did and my contributions for myself, but to help the USA Team win a gold medal. To go in twice in the same year. Man, it’s like God said, ‘I’m going to double pound you with a blessing.'”

As Sam Smith said, many still don’t think he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Smith certainly didn’t think so. Perhaps if he had a bigger say, the NBA top 75 would have looked very different.