Syracuse Basketball: Frank Howard earns NBA workout with Wizards

Former Syracuse basketball guard Frank Howard has earned an NBA workout with the Washington Wizards. Here are all the details.

Where the heck has Frank Howard been? It’s a fair question.

After spending four up-and-down years with the Syracuse basketball squad, Frank fell off the face of the Earth following a shocking suspension by the NCAA which kept Howard from playing in the March Madness tournament’s opening round vs Baylor this past season.

As it would turn out, Howard had already played his last game for Syracuse with the Orange being one-and-done for the first time since 2006 under head coach Jim Boeheim’s reign.

It was a bizarre turn of events that rocked the Syracuse community mere days before SU was set to take the court to start their March Madness run.

Before the game even tipped off a viral Daily Orange report surfaced that alleged Frank Howard had failed a drug test, three people familiar with the situation shared.

Ever since that report surfaced back in March, Frank Howard has been MIA. But seemingly out of nowhere Frank Howard has resurfaced in the opening week of June.

The Washington Wizards announced on their social media portals that they were working out six players ahead of the 2019 NBA Draft on Wednesday with one of them being Frank Howard out of Syracuse.

It is the first pre-draft NBA workout that has been openly reported by the media/NBA leading into the draft.

The Wizards provided this bio for Howard in their press release:

"“Bio: Led the team in assists (2.9) and steals (1.5) during the 2018-19 season. Scored in double figures 10 times. Totaled two or more assists on 13 occasions. During his junior season led the ACC in steals (1.8 spg), tied for seventh in assists (4.7 apg) and 15th in scoring (14.4 ppg). Scored in double figures 31 times (2017-18). Scored a season-high 28 points vs. Duke on 3/14/19. Ranked 12th in steals in the ACC (2018-19). During his junior season, Howard ranked second among Division I players in minutes played average (39.0).”"

After being a middling role player his first two years at Syracuse, as a junior, he really exploded on the scene. He more than tripled his scoring efforts from the prior season and was forced to be one of the big three for the Orange (with Tyus Battle and Oshae Brissett).

Despite having a limited bench, this tight-knit team ended up making it all the way to the Sweet 16 and nearly took out the Duke Blue Devils to advance to the Elite Eight.

Frank was set to have his best collegiate season as a senior before he was hampered by an injury late in the offseason that forced him to miss the first four games of the season. Despite returning to the lineup following the injury, he never really looked like himself during the 2018-19 campaign.

Frank has dealt with trials and tribulations throughout his collegiate career and now has an opportunity to bounce back once again on the world’s biggest stage in the NBA. The NBA Draft takes place Thursday, June 20.