Howard is 10th on the NBA's all-time rebounding list, 13th on the list of blocked shots. He's one of four players with three DPOY awards, behind only four-time winners Dikembe Mutombo, Ben Wallace and Rudy Gobert. And he got his lone NBA ring in 2020, when the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Miami Heat in the bubble finals.

Only one other player — Elvin Hayes — finished his NBA career averaging as many points, rebounds and blocked shots as Howard did. Blocks didn't become an official stat until 1973, but regardless, the numbers showed Howard was a lock for the hall in Springfield, Massachusetts, to call.

"It was absolutely ridiculous that he didn't make Top 75," Stan Van Gundy, Howard's longtime coach in Orlando, said when that 75th anniversary team was released.

Howard and Van Gundy didn't always agree. On this point, they're in lockstep.

"I was wondering if I was ever going to get into the Hall of Fame after the Top 75 thing, because it just seemed like, as far as my basketball play, I haven't really received that much respect from my years in the league," Howard said. "It was a little difficult. But then, once I got the call, I was like, 'wow, this is here'."

The 75th anniversary team snub might come up in the speech that Howard is planning to deliver this weekend. If this speech goes like the one he gave when he was inducted into the Orlando Magic Hall of Fame earlier this year — he spent his first eight NBA seasons with the Magic, hardly missing a game after they took him No 1 overall in the 2004 draft — expect some laughs and some tears. Howard doesn't mind showing his emotions.

The Hall didn't make him wait, either. Howard was voted in during his first year of eligibility.

"It's happening. It's me being in the Hall of Fame, being inducted in the Hall of Fame as player and then being inducted into the Hall of Fame as an Olympian," Howard said. "It's just like a double whammy, but in a good way."

Agencies via Xinhua