Dwight Howard sheds tears honoring parents while celebrating Orlando Magic Hall of Fame enshrinement

Former NBA center Dwight Howard had a decorated career, and he was rewarded by one of his former teams. The Orlando Magic, the first team that Howard played for in the league, inducted him into the franchise's Hall of Fame on Monday. He is the 13th person to receive this recognition.

During his induction ceremony, Howard took the time to thank his parents and got emotional while sharing his appreciation to them, while also giving them credit for the success he had in the NBA.

This is what Howard said in his speech about them.

"First I want to start by thanking my parents, my mom and my dad," Howard said. "The NBA is a very tough sport, it's very difficult to go through and you guys have been there from day one. You believed in me, you told me that if I wanted to make it you would sacrifice anything for me to get there and you did. So thank you."

Dwight Howard joins Darrel Armstrong, Rich DeVos, John Gabriel, Anfernee Hardaway, Jimmy Hewitt, Brian Hill, Tracy McGrady, Shaquille O'Neal, Dennis Scott, David Steele, as well as Nick Anderson and franchise co-founder Pat Williams.

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Dwight Howard had arguably the best years of his career playing for the Orlando Magic

Dwight Howard joined the NBA straight out of high school. Despite the lack of a collegiate experience, the Orlando Magic took a chance on him and took him with their first pick in the 2004 NBA draft.

In his debut season as a pro, Howard displayed dominant interior defense and rebounding, averaging 12.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game. He was in the Rookie of the Year discussions but finished third behind Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon.

While he continued to grow in his sophomore year, his breakout came in year three when he earned his first All-Star selection and was named to the All-NBA third team in 2007.

Then, in 2007-08, Howard led the league in boards with 14.2 per game., starting a streak of three consecutive seasons as the rebounding leader, averaging 13.8 in 2008-09 and 13.2 in 2009-10.

This was also when he started to dominate as one of the best defenders, putting up a league-leading 2.9 and 2.8 rejections in 2008-09 and 2009-10, respectively.

The media acknowledged Howard's defensive dominance by awarding him the Defensive Player of the Year title for three consecutive seasons from 2009 to 2011.

In total, Howard earned three DPOYs, six All-Star nods and five All-NBA first-team selections with Orlando. When he left the team, he was named an All-Star only two more times (2013 and 2014).

Dwight Howard secured his lone title in 2020 with the LA Lakers.