Josh Howard

Former Dallas Mavericks forward and 2003 first-round pick who became an NAIA head coach.

Joshua Jay Howard (born April 28, 1980) is an American basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the UNT Dallas Trailblazers men's basketball team. He played college basketball for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. He played 10 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), predominantly with the Dallas Mavericks.

Quick Facts

League: NAIA
Team: UNT Dallas Trailblazers
Position: Head coach
Born: 28 April 1980
Birthplace: Winston-Salem, North Carolina, U.S.
High school: Robert B. Glenn (Kernersville, North Carolina); Hargrave Military Academy (Chatham, Virginia)
College: Wake Forest (1999–2003)
Draft round: 1

Lore & Background

Howard was selected in the 2003 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks in the first round (29th overall). He played in 67 games (29 starts) during his rookie year, averaging 8.6 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, earning him NBA All-Rookie 2nd team honors. In the 2005–06 season, Howard averaged a career-high in scoring (15.6 points) and three-point field goal percentage (.429), in addition to tallying 6.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game. In the 2006 NBA playoffs, Howard was vital to the Mavs' run to the Finals to the point where the team was 23–0 when Howard scored more than 20 points a game.

In game 5 of the 2006 NBA Finals against the Miami Heat, it was asserted by referees that Howard called for a timeout during Dwyane Wade's free throw attempts, which only allowed Dallas to inbound the ball at full court instead of setting up for a play at half court. Howard asserted that in fact no timeout was called and that even referee Joey Crawford agreed with him. After Dwyane Wade hit his second foul shot to put the Miami Heat up by one point, Dallas was unable to advance the ball to halfcourt for an attempt at a game-winning shot.

On December 8, 2007, Howard scored a career high 47 points against the Utah Jazz. On April 25, 2008, hours before Game 3 of the Mavericks' first-round series with the New Orleans Hornets, Howard told Michael Irvin in an interview on ESPN Radio 103.3 FM that he smoked marijuana in the offseason, and that while he would not smoke during the season even if the NBA did not conduct random testing, he did not 'think that's stopping me from doing my job.' He called his marijuana use 'my personal choice.'

Reader's Guide

Howard was traded to the Washington Wizards on February 13, 2010. He tore his ACL against the Chicago Bulls on February 22, 2010, and underwent surgery on March 16, 2010, expected to miss 6 to 8 months. He signed a one-year contract with the Utah Jazz on December 15, 2011. On November 15, 2012, he signed a one-year contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves, but was waived on December 20, 2012, after suffering a torn ACL on December 14, 2012.

That game ended up being the final game of his NBA career. He later played for the Austin Toros of the NBA Development League before being waived on February 27, 2014, due to a season-ending injury. In July 2014, he joined the New Orleans Pelicans for the 2014 NBA Summer League. In July 2016, Howard was hired by Piedmont International University to be their new head coach. In April 2020, he was hired as the head coach of the University of North Texas at Dallas.

Did You Know?

Howard was born with bowed legs and they had to be broken below the knee and reset twice before his second birthday.
During his senior year of high school, Howard was handcuffed outside a BP gas station the night before his SAT examination.
Howard needed an SAT score of at least 950 to get into Wake Forest but scored 'somewhere in the 500s,' so he spent a year at Hargrave Military Academy.
Howard is the second ACC player (after Shane Battier) to amass 1000 points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists, 200 steals, 100 blocks, and 100 three-pointers.
Early in 2006, Howard turned down an offer to serve as a defensive specialist for Team USA in the 2008 Summer Olympics to run his annual youth camp in Winston-Salem.