NBAWeird But True

This Man Will Retire After Drunk-Dialing Dwight Howard At 1 In The Morning

Welp, this is easily the best story of the day. On Tuesday, it was confirmed that Bob Vander Weide would be retiring as CEO of the Orlando Magic, and will be replaced in the front office by current president Alex Martins. Now, more information about Vander Weide’s final few days are starting to trickle in, and one detail in particular is… well, it’s just great.

The prevailing opinion among fans, league sources, and basketball writers throughout the land is that the face of Orlando’s franchise — center Dwight Howard — will be leaving town soon. Howard, like many elite NBA players nowadays, wants to bolt for a bigger market. Some of his rumored destinations are L.A., Chicago, or New York.

This was probably distressing to Vander Weide, who up until Tuesday had been with the Magic for twenty years. Howard is one of the game’s dominant players, is a huge draw for the team, and has been beloved in the city (both for his dunks and 1,000-megawatt smile) since his rookie year.

Vander Weide reportedly has a good relationship with Howard, and knew that his leaving town would be a huge blow — both for the team, and for him. So, he did what any person would do when someone near and dear to their heart might leave for greener pastures: he got drunk and called them.

Vander Weide confirmed that he made a 1 a.m. phone call in recent days to Magic superstar Dwight Howard, and Howard thought Vander Weide may have been intoxicated. On that call, Vander Weide told Howard how much the Magic wanted to keep him in Orlando.  “I was playing paddle with friends and had a couple of glasses of wine,” Vander Weide told BHSN.  “Maybe Dwight thought it was inappropriate to talk business after a couple of glasses of wine… Maybe I should have waited until the morning.”

Yeah. Maybe you should’ve sat that play out, Bob.

We should point out that Vander Weide probably isn’t retiring because of this phone call. It may have something to do with it, but we doubt that one drunk-dial undoes twenty years of good work. Instead, it’s possible that the continued stress of trying to get Howard to stay — a cause that will most likely prove futile — weighed heavily on him.

As SBNation notes, there are two victims in this situation: the spurned Vander Weide, and Howard, who probably had to deal with one of the most awkward phone calls of his life. It’s not often that a 50-year-old NBA executive calls a 25-year-old player at 1 in the morning and pours his heart out. We imagine it went something like this:

[BHSN, SBNation]