Any team giving Howard a max deal is taking some risks, as Howard doesn’t seem to have what it takes to lead a championship team. But Houston might be the best fit, with James Harden established as the clear team leader. Harden is young and doesn’t have the in-your-face edge Kobe Bryant brought to the table. That approach clearly wasn’t the best fit for a fragile Howard.
Is the soap opera finally over? It looks like the Los Angeles Lakers are finally getting Dwight Howard as part of a 4-team deal:
The Lakers will send All-Star center Andrew Bynum to the Philadelphia 76ers, who also will receive shooting guard Jason Richardson from the Orlando Magic. The Sixers will send guard Andre Iguodala to the Denver Nuggets. The Magic will receive Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Nikola Vucevic, rookie swingman Moe Harkless and three first-round draft picks.
Earlier reports that Pau Gasol would be part of the deal didn’t materialize.
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In discussing the possibility of a Dwight Howard deal and the rumors of Andrew Bynam going to Cleveland, Terry Pluto points out some strange new rules in the CBA that make a deal very unlikely.
1. There are at least 40 million reasons why Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum won’t sign contract extensions to help complete a trade. That’s right, 40 million, as in about $40 million. Howard and Bynum are under contract through the 2012-13 season. If they are traded and sign an extension now, it can be for no longer than three years.
2. That’s why Howard’s agent has said his client has no interest in signing an extension now. He’ll wait for free agency. The new labor agreement changed the rules on players signing extensions before free agency. It made it wiser for players to wait to become free agents because they can sign longer, more lucrative deals. (So much for helping teams keep their stars.)
3. Bynum is expected to follow the same path as Howard. Why sign a three-year deal in the $60 million range when he can wait a year, and sign for more than $100 million over five seasons?
4. Any agent that takes a contract extension for a prime-time player in the final year of his contract is either giving poor advice or has a client — who because of injuries — wants security now. That’s why every proposed deal for Howard has been a mess. He won’t commit to a contract now because he can get so much more later.
Dwight Howard is taking a lot of heat for his flip-flops on what he wants to do, but it’s hard to blame him for this CBA quirk that seems to be making it much harder to get deals done. Also, as Pluto points out, it makes it much harder for teams to lock up and keep their star players.
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I’m guessing most people are sick of hearing about Dwight Howard and the drama he creates. Fans of the Orlando Magic have to be totally disgusted at this point, but this is the modern NBA.
Orlando Magic star Dwight Howard told Yahoo! Sports he will not re-sign with a team outside his preferred list that trades for him, and emphatically denied that he ever used the term “blackmail” to describe how Magic officials convinced him to waive his early termination option.
As the Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets and other teams prepare possible trade offers for him, Howard told Yahoo! by phone that, “There’s only one team on my list and if I don’t get traded there, I’ll play the season out and explore my free agency after that.”
Howard wouldn’t specify the team, but multiple league sources believe that it is the Brooklyn Nets.
Naturally this makes it even harder for the Magic to get fair value for Howard, which is probably what he wants.
Meanwhile, the Boston Celtics have resigned Kevin Garnett and are hoping to lock in Ray Allen and Jeff Green to extensions. O.J. Mayo may be a stretch for them as he can get more elsewhere, while Jason Terry could be an option.
Meanwhile, the Toronto Raptors are going all in trying to bring Steve Nash back home to the Great White North.
Here’s an interesting story that gets into the behind-the-scenes drama of Portland’s max contract offer to Roy Hibbert.
One big fish will be Deron Williams who will be choosing from among a number of teams including the Mavs and the Nets.
