One of the biggest surprises of the buildup to this year’s NBA Draft was that the Atlanta Hawks traded Dwight Howard to the Charlotte Hornets.

Though it caught Howard off-guard, he’s already making the most of his new situation. He recently told ESPN.com that he is looking forward to meeting former Auburn QB Cam Newton, who is now starring for the Carolina Panthers:

“Listen, me and Cam are from the same place in Atlanta,” he said. “I’ve watched him do a lot of great things here in this city.”

“We love to win, but we want to have fun. And we both hate losing. … We both have that same fire and drive, where on the court, on the field we’re going to give everything we got and in the community we’re going to give even more. So I would love to be around him and us learning from each other.”

Newton and Howard both love to have fun on the court and the field, so it seems like they’d be good friends if they meet.

They should both be in Charlotte getting ready for their seasons over the summer, so we’ll have to see if the two superstars get a chance to hang out in person finally.