Dwight Howard signed with Black Fortress Tbilisi of the Georgian Super League on Wednesday, six months after he announced he was retiring from basketball. The club made it official with a post of Howard in its black and orange No. 12 jersey.
Howard, who was born in Atlanta and went to Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy, knew exactly how the word “Georgia” was going to land with people back home, so he got out ahead of it. “Georgia, here I come! I don’t mean my hometown of Atlanta” he wrote, before telling fans to wait for October. Tbilisi is the capital of the country of Georgia, which sits between Europe and Asia on the eastern edge of the Black Sea. It is roughly 6,000 miles from the one with the Braves in it.
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In a video announcing the move, Howard said he is coming to spread the game he loves and could not wait to get started with Black Fortress. He also told fans this would be the last time they see him on the court, which he has now said in a few different ways over the past year.
The retirement he is walking back happened on March 12, when the eight time All Star and three time Defensive Player of the Year said he was done with all basketball. He turns 41 in December. At the time, he also said watching other players still competing at 40 had made him want to keep going, which reads now like the tell it probably was.
The Dwight Howard Tbilisi deal is the newest stop on one of the strangest post NBA runs any star of his era has put together. He last played in the league with the Lakers in 2022. Since then he has suited up in Taiwan with the Taoyuan Leopards, played in Puerto Rico, and competed in the BIG3. Financial terms and the length of the Black Fortress agreement have not been released.
He is also not done with Asia. Howard posted “Asia I’m on the way” on September 6, shared photos from Mongolia two days later saying he might live there one day, and played for the SG Apes in a September 9 exhibition against the Selenge Bodons. He is expected to be one of the headliners of The Asian Tournament this weekend before reporting to Georgia in October.
Black Fortress Tbilisi plays in the Georgian Super League, the country’s top level of professional basketball. It is not a league that gets American television coverage, which is part of the point. Howard has spent the last four years choosing gyms most people have never heard of over a comfortable retirement, and he keeps finding new ones.
