TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Former NBA star center Dwight Howard began training with his new teammates the day after arriving in Taiwan.
Howard joining the Taoyuan Leopards for the T1 League has already generated a lot of interest in the league as well as his new team’s upcoming games, tickets for which have all sold out.
Howard on Sunday (Nov. 13) took promotional photos for his new team. The eight-time NBA All-Star had fun and was cracking jokes during the photo shoot, according to the team.
Howard's first game will be a home game against New Taipei CTBC DEA on Nov. 19 at the National Taiwan Sport University Arena in Taoyuan. He will be wearing number 12.
In a video released by his team, Howard said he was excited to train with his new teammates and had fun at practice. “I just got out of the plane couples hours ago, but I want to make sure I was here. Let my teammates know that I will be there all year,” Howard said. “I am excited about the season, and I am excited about Taiwanese fans. Everybody is gonna come out and watch our team play this year.”
Howad added, “The whole team is being great. The only difficult part is the coach doesn’t speak English. So you know it’s kind of hard to talk to him. But other than that, everything has been amazing, My teammates are great. I am looking forward to having an amazing time here in Taiwan.”
One of Howard’s new teammates said Howard kept talking to them and made them feel like he had known them for a long time. Other teammates said they were excited about such a great former NBA star joining their team and believed that he would greatly help the team going forward.
(YouTube, Taoyuan Leopards video)
(Instagram, dwighthoward and taoyuan_leopards video)
Dwight Howard (Taoyuan Leopards photo)
