I Can't Believe Dwight Howard is Being Criticized for Giving His Jersey Away

Atlanta’s Dwight Howard was erroneously ejected from Monday night’s game against Boston for hanging on the rim. On his way out, the big man gave his jersey to a fan. Nice, right? Apparently not.

Howard’s sweat-soaked gift has landed him in the internet’s crosshairs.

This is outrageous.

Howard gave his Hawks jersey to a Hawks fan — a perfectly reasonable thing to do. That an overly excited Celtics supporter was bouncing about in his vicinity is immaterial. She was promised nothing and counted her chickens before they hatched in assuming she was about to receive the souvenir.

It’s not as if Howard extended his arm out and pulled it away to intentionally. He also appears to make minimal eye contact with the so-called victim.

It pains me to have to go full-on contrarian on this incident and, trust me, its relative insignificance is obvious. But even a guy like Howard, who doesn’t make it easy for people to defend him, deserves a defense against baseless attacks.

It seems no good deed, no matter how trivial, goes unpunished or spun into manufactured controversy.