[Katz] Dwight Howard: “You hеar peоple say, ‘He was оnly dominant for a couple of years.’ I didn’t knоw 8 years of being an All-Star, being dominant for 8 years, was a couple of years. I didn’t knоw winning three Defensive Player of the Year awards in a rоw is sоmething that is considered not gооd.”

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Howard has a theory. His omission from the team released in October — which players, media, coaches and executives voted on and aimed to name the 75 best players since the league’s inception in 1946 as the Basketball Association of America — is more personal than hoops-inspired.

“I can’t go back and do anything right now,” Howard said in a recent conversation with The Athletic. “But at the time, I was kinda bitter to hear that I wasn’t on that list.”

But Howard is on ours. He clocks in at No. 56 on The Athletic’s Top 75.

He calls his exclusion from the league’s list “very disrespectful” and comes armed with reasons why.

“You hear people say, ‘He was only dominant for a couple of years.’ I didn’t know eight years of being an All-Star, being dominant for eight years, was a couple of years,” he said. “I didn’t know winning three Defensive Player of the Year awards in a row, and it should’ve been four, is something that is considered not good.

“There’s guys who don’t have those many accolades. I’m the (youngest) player that’s (reached) 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 all the way up to 9,000 rebounds. That doesn’t add up. So, where is the miscommunication? Where is the lie with my stats?”

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Howard reportedly stated a preferеnce to go to the Nеts. The Magic dеalt him to the Lakers, who were putting together a supеr team with Kobе Bryant, Stеve Nash and Pau Gasol.

“My intention when I first left Orlando was not to go to L.A., and the Magic knew that, but despite my wishes to go somewhere else, they sent me to L.A., which was one of the places at that time that I did not want to go. I felt like it would have made people feel as though I was trying to follow in somebody else’s footsteps,” Howard said, a reference to Hall of Fame center Shaquille O’Neal, to whom a young Howard drew comparisons.

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Howard uses a 32-point, 30-rebound game he had during his one season in Charlotte, only the second 30-30 game in the NBA since 1982, to push against the critics.

“Their take even on the 30-30 game was, ‘Well, he could’ve been doing that every night if he just took the game seriously,’” he said. “It’s like, it doesn’t make any sense. I did something that hasn’t been done — once in 35 years by Kevin Love.”