Last season, Dwight Howard averaged 16.6 points and 12.5 rebounds in 30.4 minutes per game for the Charlotte Hornets.He also played 81 regular-season games and stayed healthy throughout the grueling schedule.But, that output still wasn’t good enough to keep him around.The Hornets, citing a small-ball, up-tempo playing style under new head coach James Borrego, decided to trade Howard to the Brooklyn Nets for Timofey Mozgov and two future second-round draft picks.The 32-year-old, 14-year pro then agreed to a buyout with the Nets and joined the Washington Wizards in free agency. Since Washington traded away center Marcin Gortat to the Los Angeles Clippers earlier in the summer, Howard will presumably start and play an important role alongside John Wall, Bradley Beal and company.Now officially joining his seventh NBA team in 14 years (counting his few days with Brooklyn), it’s clear that non-basketball concerns have forced a player of his caliber to move around so much. But, recently a debate arose regarding Howard’s legacy.

The “debate”

Will he make the Hall of Fame?

That's the question that came up. But, it’s not much of a debate. It’s a near certainty that the eight-time All-Star will make it to the Hall someday. He knows it, too.

"I think my resume speaks for itself,” he recently told TMZ Sports after a practice session.

“I know what I’ve done in this NBA in my career. I think I’ve been pretty successful. A lot of times people always want to hate and say something bad about me as a player and as a person. That’s just really a testament to their character. … We’ve all had downfalls, but I’m not really concerned about that,” he added.

According to NBA-Reference.com’s Hall of Fame probability rankings, Howard currently checks in at a 99.3 percent mark.

That ranks seventh among current players behind LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Dirk Nowitzki (all of which are at 100 percent), Chris Paul (99.9 percent), Kevin Durant (99.9 percent) and Stephen Curry (99.6 percent).

To put that into perspective, Howard ranks above players like Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Pau Gasol, Vince Carter, Carmelo Anthony and Tony Parker.

According to the model, he ranks 52nd in NBA history among every single player that ever played in the NBA or ABA in terms of Hall of Fame probability based on the model used. Since the algorithm only takes into account basketball-related metrics, there are a number of current Hall of Famers that received a lower Hall of Fame probability than him on the all-time list. It’s worth noting that the metrics used in the model include height (in inches), NBA championships, NBA leaderboard points, NBA peak win shares and All-Star Game selections.

Therefore, Howard’s numbers already “speak for themselves”.

Considering the fact that he hasn’t won a championship and is still almost a lock at just 32 years old, it’s reasonable to assume that this “debate” isn’t much of a debate at all. If he chases a ring later in his career or continues being productive for a few more seasons, he would presumably earn the 100 percent probability mark in that model.

It seems as though the only barrier to his Hall of Fame entry could be his presumably-toxic relationships with his teammates and coaches over the years. But, he’d have to do real damage from this point forward in order to derail his future enshrinement.