Dwight Howard, like many of us, decided to hop on Twitter on Tuesday night to check out the latest NBA rumors. Unlike any of us, though, he was at the center of the biggest one.
Here’s the ironically humorous timeline: Just before 9 p.m. ET, the then-Atlanta Hawks big man threw out a playful tweet asking fans for their thoughts on trades and the upcoming NBA draft.
Ok Twitter Fans ,, give me your thoughts , trades or otherwise & Remember 2B-Nice 🤗 pic.twitter.com/Nl6lQFVvBN
— Dwight Howard (@DwightHoward) June 21, 2017
One fan even asked Howard if he thought he was going to get traded.
https://twitter.com/corkybeast/status/877329184334372865
The answer to that question, of course, was yes. Minutes later, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports’ The Vertical dropped a “Woj bomb:” Howard was being shipped to the Charlotte Hornets.
Sources: Charlotte is sending Miles Plumlee, Marco Belenelli and 41st pick to Atlanta for Dwight Howard and 31st pick.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 21, 2017
But Dwight apparently hadn’t received the memo. He responded to a tweet about a possible destination for Indiana Pacers forward Paul George, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was a centerpiece in a major NBA trade.
He has so many great options, tough 2 Call https://t.co/fnC87lmFSS
— Dwight Howard (@DwightHoward) June 21, 2017
The Hornets soon announced they had agreed to the deal, and as you can see by his current Twitter avatar, Howard eventually got the message. Of course, that didn’t stop the internet from having a little fun with the 31-year-old center.
https://twitter.com/73McAvoy/status/877332637538369536
https://twitter.com/uglydarius/status/877332902425411584
you just got traded while talking about others pic.twitter.com/3IkgOIQbpM
— Arjun Sethi (@roguelost) June 21, 2017
There’s always the possibility that Howard was trolling all of us and already knew of the trade before Atlanta dealt him to Charlotte. But the above scenario is more fun (and more believable), so we’re sticking with that.
Thumbnail photo via Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports Images