It’s been a brutal year in the nation’s capital. Between John Wall’s season-ending injury, Dwight Howard getting sidelined due to a bizarre nerve issue, and the team being three games back of the 8-seed in the Eastern Conference, the Washington Wizards have encapsulated Murphy’s Law during the 2018-19 NBA season so far.
The good news is that things can only go up from here, and late on Tuesday night, Washington got an encouraging update regarding one of their injured standouts. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Howard is slated to start ramping up his recovery from the surgery that has limited him to nine games during his first year in D.C.
Sources on @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium: Wizards center Dwight Howard will return to Washington D.C. on Wednesday to start on-court work. Howard has rehabilitated in Atlanta since undergoing spine surgery in late November.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 20, 2019
The last time we saw Howard on the floor, he appeared for seven minutes in a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Nov. 18. In that time, the injury that led to him having discomfort in his butt and back was a nerve issue that required surgery, and aside from one cameo when the Wizards were in Atlanta, Howard has spent his time working to get back onto the floor.
Washington is in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, sitting at 24-34. The team has an uphill climb ahead of it to make the playoffs, something that became a little more difficult when it entered the All-Star break as losers of seven of their last 10 games. Basically, the Wizards are at a point where they can use all the help they can get if they want to make the postseason, and while he’s certainly lost a step from his prime, Howard would give them a starting-caliber center and some welcomed reinforcements in the frontcourt if he’s able to come back and be productive at some point this year.
