Ex-Magic player joins ‘Dancing With the Stars’ — who is it?

There’s a well-known former Orlando Magic star among the group of celebrities competing on the new season of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.”

The show is known for recruiting former or current professional athletes to compete with other celebrities on the dance floor. Among those with Sunshine State connections have been former Apopka High and Tampa Bay Bucs star Warren Sapp, former Dr. Phillips High and Major League Baseball star Johnny Damon, former Florida Gators running back Emmitt Smith, and former Miami Dolphins defensive end and linebacker Jason Taylor.

Now you can add the first former Orlando Magic player to appear on the show: Dwight Howard.

“Dwight David Howard II is one of the NBA’s most charismatic veteran players,” ABC said in its news release announcing the Season 33 cast of the show. “Playing basketball 19 years professionally as one of the greatest players in the NBA, he has made a global impact across the lives of people around the world.”

“He is an NBA Champion, eight-time NBA All-Star, eight-time All-NBA Team member, five-time All-Defensive Team member and a three-time Defensive Player of the Year. He holds the record for having the most dunks in NBA history along with being the only player in NBA history to earn the honor of Defensive Player of the Year for three consecutive seasons.”

The Magic used the No. 1 pick in the 2004 NBA Draft to take Howard directly from high school. The 6-foot-10 center helped revive an Orlando team still reeling from the loss of Shaquille O’Neal. In the 2008-09 season, he led the Magic back to the NBA Finals for the first time in 14 years, but Orlando lost to the L.A. Lakers in five games.

Like O’Neal, Howard ended up leaving the Magic to join the Lakers. After a rocky couple of seasons, he requested a trade, and the Magic dealt him to Los Angeles on Aug. 10, 2012.

After leaving the Magic, Howard bounced around the NBA, with stops in Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte, Washington and Philadelphia, before ultimately winning a NBA title in 2020 during the second of three stints with the Lakers.

Since leaving the NBA, he’s been playing basketball in Taiwan, and has been a member of the Taoyuan Leopards and Taiwan Mustangs.

Other athletes Howard will be competing against on “Dancing With the Stars” include Super Bowl champion and former NFL wide receiver Danny Amendola, U.S. Gymnastics Olympic medalist Stephen Nedoroscik (who rose to fame as the “pommel horse guy” in Paris) and Olympics women’s rugby player Ilona Maher.

The new season of “Dancing With the Stars” starts on Tuesday, Sept. 17 on ABC (WFTV-Channel 9 in Orlando).