Dwight Howard leaves Goodwin Sports.

Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s…completely moved and decided to work with someone else!

In a move that should come as a surprise to everyone (at least it did to me), Dwight Howard has decided to leave his long time agent Aaron Goodwin and his firm Goodwin Sports Management, according to Yahoo! Sports.  Howard, who has been represented by Goodwin since he was drafted as the number #1 pick in 2004, is the face of nearly everything; basketball video games, McDonalds, and T-Mobile, among other things.  Howard has also seen a sharp increase in his social media interaction in recent months under the care of GSM, having over 1.5 million followers on Twitter as of the writing of this post.  Everything sounds like its working out well…so, why the move? Details on Howard’s decision from Yahoo! Sports,

Howard’s next move is unclear, although sources say he planned to lean more toward letting some extended family and friends manage his business.

Goodwin had helped to turn Howard’s gregarious and good-natured way into marketing gold. He constructed an impressive platform of endorsements for Howard, including a believed $6 million-$7 million annual shoe deal with Adidas and major national campaigns with McDonald’s, T-Mobile, Vitamin Water and others.  No NBA player is believed to have as many major sponsors. (emphasis mine.) (via Yahoo! Sports)

Interesting.  Far be it from me to question the marketing moves of Dwight Howard.  He’s a super star in his sport, and he’s extremely marketable (obviously).  If Howard does rely on family and friends for his marketing prospects, I don’t foresee any problems as far as number of opportunities, more a testament to the image created at GSM if nothing else.  (Although you could always see a drop off in money because you’re dealing with less skilled negotiators).   Kind of a shame for those at GSM who have seemingly built Howard into what he is today, only to see him walk away, but at the end of the day everything is a business…If Howard believes this is the best move, so be it.

It did work for Lebron James, after all…kind of…right?

P.S. In case you are wondering, Howard’s page is still active on the GSM website.

Tags: Aaron Goodwin, Dwight Howard, GSM, marketing, Sports Marketing

Category: Basketball