Houston Rockets Roster & Trade Rumors: Dwight Howard Traffic Violations May Affect His Game?

Orlando finally made Dwight Howard pay.

According to SB Nation's The Dream Shake, the Rockets center had his Florida license suspended. Based on court records in Orlando, from 2004 to 2012, Howard hoarded 26 tickets. Most of the tickets were issued during his long tenure with the Orlando Magic. The 26 tickets were comprised of 12 counts of failure to pay highway tolls, 10 tickets for running red lights and four tickets for speeding. The 10 counts of red light violations were committed from January 2012 to July 2014.

The 6'11" star has to pay a fine of $285 for his Florida driver's license to be reinstated. Until then, he has to ride the passenger seat of his white Ferrari.

Spotrac.com writes that Dwight Howard earned over $21 million during the 2013-2014 NBA season. In the next two years, he is slated to earn over $22 million and $23 million respectively. From 2012 to 2014 as a Houston Rocket, he was fined several times for committing technical fouls, each amounting to at least $2,000. Paying a measly $285 to get his driver's license back may not change his mentality or even discourage him from committing the same traffic violations again in the future.

In a report by NBA.com, Howard averaged 18.3 points, 12.2 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game during the 2013-2014 regular season. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year got better in the 2014 NBA playoffs, averaging 26.0 points, 13.7 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game. Even without Chandler Parsons, Howard and James Harden are expected to propel the Houston Rockets in the upcoming season. They might have been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs the last time but the odds are 10-1 in favor of the Rockets to win the NBA Finals in 2015.

While the NFL has been ridden with scandals in the past few weeks due to players committing flagrant acts of violence, Howard's traffic violation can be hardly considered serious in nature. Considering Howard's reputation as a prankster in the league, it is expected that he would only laugh off the license suspension. Fans would not think twice about his abilities, taking into account his performance at the 2014 playoffs, albeit short of proceeding to the second round. The Houston Rockets are still among the teams most likely to finish in the top 3 in their conference.