From winning his first trophy as an owner in Taiwan to busting moves on Dancing with the Stars, Dwight Howard is soaking it all in. But as much as he’s embracing life outside the league, Howard hasn’t been shy about throwing jabs at the NBA. Earlier this year, he took multiple swings at the league. Now once again, he took another dig—this time, right before his match against boxing legend Manny Pacquiao.

Manny Pacquiao, the only eight-division world champion in boxing history, made an appearance on Howard’s About DH12 Above the Rim podcast. Things took a turn when they played three rounds of chess, but Howard quickly admitted that he’d already lost his focus before the game even started. Why? Apparently, an NBA coach called him.

“I was getting ready to play him, right? I was getting my mind right on playing him in chess. And the coach called me from the NBA. He was like, ‘Dwight, we’re going to give you a shot,’” he revealed. But hold up—was the offer real?

Not quite. Howard, in typical fashion, was just having some fun. “And so I was like, ‘For real?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘When do I get the shot?’ He said, ‘I’m going to give you a tequila shot. You ain’t getting no shot in no team, get your butt back over there,’” Howard recounted on the podcast.

Even though Howard enjoyed playing chess with Pacquiao, he still lost. And, of course, the 38-year-old had a reason for it. “So yeah, I lost focus, man…but he (NBA coach) wanted to give me a tequila shot instead of a real shot in the game.” Can you blame him?

In August, Howard shared a post celebrating his championship win with Taiwan’s Taoyuan Leopards while taking a swipe at the NBA. “Life is a crazy thing, look how I got cut from the league now I own a league,” he captioned with a shrugging emoji. Not one to let it go, just two days later, he was back on his podcast blaming the league for his untimely exit. But what’s the story behind his frustration?

Dwight Howard’s NBA frustrations and exit

Two days later in his podcast, Dwight Howard opened up about his rocky 2022 free agency. When asked how he was feeling at the time, Howard didn’t hold back. “At that time, I was fed up with all the cr*p and the lies, so I was like, man, I’d rather just go somewhere and hoop ’cause it’s just too many lies,” he shared.

Back in 2022, Howard also voiced his disappointment on All The Smoke podcast when discussing his free-agent outlook. The 3x Defensive Player of the Year said, “I wanna play, but at the same time there’s like no teams that really wanna allow me to play.” He added, “I felt like I did enough to help them win a championship… and it didn’t happen,” referring to his role with the LA Lakers and his lack of playing time.

But it wasn’t just his performance that sealed his fate. According to Forbes, Howard’s controversial reputation played a huge role. An Eastern Conference executive revealed that his behavior in Orlando left a negative impression. “There are a lot of guys who are friends with Stan who never forgave Dwight Howard, even if Stan did,” the executive mentioned.

Furthermore, many NBA owners from that era still hold onto those memories, which Howard believes led to his exit from the league. Could these old grudges be why he feels forced out of the game?