Report: Atlanta Hawks Offered Joe Johnson and Josh Smith for Dwight Howard


According to ESPN, the Orlando Magic aren’t interested in acquiring young talent (and a combination of valuable draft picks) should they trade Dwight Howard. Nope, they want established vets instead, which the Atlanta Hawks offered them (but they were turned down): “Orlando has moved into a new arena last season and has a 85-year-old owner in Rich De Vos. Sources say De Vos has little interest in starting over/rebuilding, as evidenced by the recent decisions to trade for Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis and re-sign Jason Richardson even though Howard’s future is so murky. The trade proposal for Howard that advanced the farthest to date — before Magic GM Otis Smith publicly announced that he’s not ready to part with his 26-year-old star — would have delivered Nets center Brook Lopez, Portland Trail Blazers swingman Gerald Wallace and at least one first-round pick to Orlando while also seeing the Nets absorb the long-term contracts of Hedo Turkoglu and Chris Duhon for the right to take Dwight with them to Brooklyn. Sources told ESPN.com that the aforementioned Hawks, meanwhile, engaged Orlando in trade talks for Howard earlier this month with an offer believed to be headlined by $124 million guard Joe Johnson and swingman Josh Smith. You have to figure that the Magic, though, would insist on Al Horford if such discussions ever got serious. The Hawks are not on Howard’s short list of preferred trade destinations alongside the Nets, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks, even though Atlanta is his hometown.”