"I'm Rick James, not Kevin Durant": Dwight Howard trolls fan for mistakenly confusing him with 2-time NBA champion

Dwight Howard is known to be a comedic individual, even back when he was playing in the NBA.

Recently, Howard was spotted in a picture with a fan while out in public but was mistakenly thought of as Kevin Durant.

Whether the fan, called @LBoogz_, was joking isn't clear, but her tweet caught Howard's attention and he decided to make a joke of his own in response.

"I'm Rick James, not KD (Kevin Durant)," Howard said.

The former NBA player decided to identify himself as Rick James, the famous singer-songwriter. It was Howard's attempt to continue the joke by identifying himself as someone else entirely.

Kevin Durant has yet to join in all of these back-and-forth comic responses.

Dwight Howard tries to recruit Kevin Durant in taking his talents to Taiwan

After the Phoenix Suns were eliminated by the Denver Nuggets in the second round of the playoffs, Dwight Howard decided to put on his recruiting shoes and mentioned Kevin Durant in a hilarious recruiting video.

"KD, come on KD," Howard said.

It wasn't just Kevin Durant who was mentioned by Dwight Howard. Other players such as Chris Paul, Devin Booker, James Harden and even Ben Simmons were mentioned.

Howard continued his running joke on social media, where he tried to convince NBA players in a playful manner to head over to Taiwan after being eliminated in the playoffs.

Dwight Howard playing for the Taoyuan Leopards

As of now, the eight-time All-Star is playing for the Taoyuan Leopards in the T1 League in Taiwan. After his 2021-22 season with the LA Lakers, he was not brought back the following season by the team. He joined the Leopards on Nov. 7 7, 2022.

On his debut, he scored 38 points (14-of-32 shooting), 25 rebounds, nine assists and four blocks. His outing was enough to help his team secure a 120-115 win over the New Taipei CTBC DEA.

Howard recently spoke about his dissatisfaction with his decrease in salary for the upcoming season.

"I was offered a contract which was 65% less than what they gave me the first time I came to Taiwan," Howard said. "And I felt that was disrespectful. I felt like I brought value to the team. I was very disappointed. I felt like I deserved more. Everything that I did was to represent Leopards at their best."

Howard earned around $1 million in the previous season.