Dwight Howard Wanted to Play in Brooklyn, Calls Lakers ‘Blessing in Disguise’

Dwight Howard admitted what everyone already knew: he wanted the Orlando Magic to trade him to the Brooklyn Nets. Instead, he was shipped off to Los Angeles, and says that he’s happy with the move despite not ending up in his preferred destination. From ESPN: “I did want to go to Brooklyn. That’s a place where I told the Magic that I really wanted to go,’ Howard said. ‘[But] I was traded to the Lakers, and I think it was a blessing in disguise … The whole year a lot of people were making up a lot of stories about ‘This deal is getting close, that deal is getting close to being done,’ or whatever, but none of those deals were ever close,” Howard said. ‘I thought I was going to get traded at the beginning of the year, actually, that’s when I asked for it. But everything happened for a reason. I had to go through last year to get to where I’m at today. It’s made me a stronger and better person for it. I had to go through the hell and the stormy forecast to come out to a place like this … and I’m thankful for it.’ Howard was heavily criticized throughout what became known as the “Dwightmare” for seemingly changing his mind often and ultimately trying to please everyone but himself. ‘I think a lot of it was people just felt like I was going back and forth with the whole thing,” Howard said. “But the business side, people don’t understand, when you’re doing business you have to be a shark. You have to demand things. If you don’t, people will run over you, and that was a lesson that I learned … At the end of the day, you can’t please everybody. There’s gonna be people happy about me staying, there’s gonna be people happy about me leaving. … I’m over that now. I can’t control the way how people feel about me.'”