PSA 2003 Upper Deck #173 Josh Howard Signed Basketball trading card 0889/1250

2003-2004 Upper Deck SP Authentic Josh Howard autographed rookie card. The card is number 173 in the set and is serial numbered 0889/1250. The card is graded by PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator)

Joshua Jay Howard (born April 28, 1980) is an American basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the UNT Dallas Trailblazers men's basketball team. He played college basketball for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Howard was selected in the 2003 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks in the first round (29th overall). He played in 67 games (29 starts) during his rookie year, averaging 8.6 points and 5.5 rebounds per game earning him NBA All-Rookie 2nd team honors.

In his second season, Howard continued coming off the bench and tasked to do "mop-up minutes"until a nagging injury to Marquis Daniels gave Howard a spot at small forward in the starting lineup. Howard averaged 12.6 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 1.53 steals in 32 minutes of play for the season.

In the 2005–06 season, Howard averaged a career-high in scoring (15.6 points) and three-point field goal percentage (.429), in addition to tallying 6.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game. He was limited to 59 games due to injury. In the 2006 NBA playoffs, Howard was vital to the Mavs' run to the Finals to the point where the team was 23–0 when Howard scored more than 20 points a game. In game 5 of the 2006 NBA Finals against the Miami Heat, it was asserted by referees that Howard called for a timeout during Dwyane Wade's free throw attempts, which only allowed Dallas to inbound the ball at full court instead of setting up for a play at half court. Howard asserted that in fact no timeout was called and that even referee Joey Crawford agreed with him. After Dwyane Wade hit his second foul shot to put the Miami Heat up by one point, Dallas was unable to advance the ball to halfcourt for an attempt at a game-winning shot.

Early in 2006, Team USA director Jerry Colangelo invited Howard to serve as one of Team USA's possible defensive specialists (the other two being Shane Battier of the Memphis Grizzlies and Bruce Bowen of the San Antonio Spurs) in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Howard turned down the offer, instead going back to run his annual youth camp in his hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

During the 2006–07 season, Howard missed 2 games (Seattle at Dallas, and Dallas at Memphis). His 18.9 points per game combined with 6.8 rebounds a game helped lead the Dallas Mavericks to a season-best 67–15 record; however, he was left out of All-Star weekend at first. After injuries to Yao Ming and Carlos Boozer, Howard was offered the extra spot. Hall of Famer Magic Johnson commented on Howard's omission at first, saying "I've got a problem with it, I really do". Johnson also went on to say "Josh Howard should be an All-Star. Period."

On December 8, 2007, Howard scored a career high 47 points against the Utah Jazz.

In April 2008, hours before Game 3 of the Mavericks' first-round series with the New Orleans Hornets, Howard told Michael Irvin in an interview on ESPN Radio 103.3 FM that he smoked marijuana in the offseason, and that while he would not smoke during the season even if the NBA did not conduct random testing, he did not "think that's stopping me from doing my job." He called his marijuana use "my personal choice". He had previously discussed his marijuana use and its possible link to him slipping to the 29th pick in 2003 NBA draft with TrueHoop blogger Henry Abbot.