Dwight Howard came out and  told everyone he wasn’t stupid….and what did he do to prove it? He got ejected in his Houston Rockets debut. 

Derrick Rose wasn’t the one making his long awaited debut for his team, with Dwight Howard scoring 19 points and collected nine rebounds in his first game since signing a four-year, $88 million deal with the Rockets in the offseason.

Howard was also 7 of 11 from the free throw line – apparently they’re harder to shoot with his eyes open!

He was also ejected in the third quarter for arguing a defensive 3-second violation.

Probably a poor time to be ejected as he had recently been criticised by Hall of Famer, Kareem Abdul Jabbar for having a poor basketball IQ.

“Dwight is an extraordinary athlete and has incredible athletic ability, but basketball is a game where the most important muscle that you use on the court is the one between your ears,” Abdul-Jabbar said on ESPN’s “First Take” Thursday. “Dwight’s basketball IQ is not up to speed for him to be a dominant player.”

Howard fired back by using his defensive player of the year awards as an argument to prove how smart he is.

“You can’t win three Defensive Player of the Year trophies and be stupid. That can’t be done,” he said, according to the Houston Chronicle. “And I don’t think any coach that has ever coached me has said I have a low IQ for basketball, Howard recently told the press.

Howard went on to demonstrate his intelligence by answering his own questions -a trait shared by intelligent children.

“Have I done some dumb stuff on the floor? Yes, every player has. Have I done some stupid things in life? Yes, it’s life. We make mistakes and learn from them. It is what it is. I think I am very intelligent when it comes to the game of basketball. I have been playing since I was 3 years old. Each year, I get a little smarter.

Maybe we can have Kobe test his IQ.