Tuesday, June 26th, 2012 at 9:40 am  |  28 responses

Dwight Howard Unwilling to Stay in Houston Long-Term if Traded?


If the Orlando Magic manage to pull off a Dwight Howard trade to Houston, the prevailing feeling is that Howard would be a one-year rental for the Rockets. Per NBA.com: “Amid a report that stated the Houston Rockets are hoping to amass enough trade assets to make a deal with the Orlando Magic for Dwight Howard – even though Howard would only be in Houston for one season before becoming an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2013 — a source with knowledge of Howard’s thinking said Monday that there was ‘not a chance’ Howard would be persuaded to remain in Houston if traded there, and would leave next summer to sign elsewhere. ESPN.com reported Monday morning that the Rockets, who currently have the 14th and 16th picks overall in the first round of Thursday’s Draft, were trying to move up in order to acquire two high first-round picks that would be sent to the Magic as part of a package for Howard. Howard decided to ‘opt in’ to the final year of his contract late this past season rather than opt out and be an unrestricted free agent this summer. But Howard has given no indication he plans to sign any long-term extension in Orlando, and the Magic are resigned to the fact that they’ll likely have to trade him sometime this offseason unless he has a dramatic change of heart. The Nets and Mavericks have been among the most ardent suitors for the 26-year-old Howard, who missed Orlando’s first-round playoff loss to Indiana after undergoing back surgery in April. Howard believes he’ll be back on the court in time for the start of next season. The Rockets have made it clear that they are willing to take Howard with no assurances that he’d remain after next season. They’ve offered several different packages to different teams currently in the top 10. League sources said Monday that the Rockets have put guard Kevin Martin in at least two trade packages, and it’s believed that the Rockets are also shopping guard Kyle Lowry, who started at point guard before being sidelined with a bacterial infection that caused him to miss almost a month of the season.”

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  • http://www.slaminline.com spit hot fiyah

    honestly, this is way more annoying to me that the melo drama, and lebron free agency. who cares about this dude, trade him to some rec league team in alaska

  • Sizzle

    The more this drags on, the more this actually makes “The Decision” look somewhat good…

  • L Dribble

    Olajuwon didn’t do too badly there did he? Does he want a championship or a movie deal?

  • http://nba.com GP23

    He wants the bright lights of Hollywood. He aint getting that in Houston..

  • Jono

    People whine about the decision. But this is the decision played out for over a year now. I’ve had enough of this guy. He isn’t even that great, not Kobe/KD/LeBron calibre.

  • Rik Smits Mullet

    must agree with spit hot fiyah. this dude is getting annoying.
    Let him play in china or something.

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    Why would this cat sign an extentsion knowing damn well he has no intention of staying in ORL long term? Oh wait, nevermind. This clown wants to have his cake and it eat too. Too afraid to be hated, so he flip flops more than a politician.

  • jay cutler

    ^^^ The funny thing about all the internet experts on here coming to a website to give their basketball opinion on their keyboards is that Dwight Howard had nothing to do with his report. Never contacted Houston. Never publicized that he wouldn’t stay there. Even if he did privately state that that’s not his preferred destination, I’m pretty sure he’s allowed to have preferences that don’t sit well with Slam’s online comment board experts.

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    So you’re telling me that he wants to stay in ORL long term?
    All the signs have pointed to a desire from Howard to leave Orl for “greener pastures”.
    I have nothing against that decision because I’m a huge supporter of free-agency but I’m not a fan of cats who are afraid to stand their ground because of a fear of being hated.

  • http://redoftoothandclaw.ca/ niQ

    Yea, he’s so annoying. Just trade him to the Raptors or something.

  • Mr. Magic

    I can’t beleive how stupid some of you are. “he’s not that good”?!?!?!? yes, this drama is absolutely unbearable ( coming from a magic fan) and I am ready for the idea of shipping off dwight and moving in a new direction but saying he is not good? that’s just ridiculous.

  • ALD

    How can The decision be bad when the money generated went to charity ?… You ppl are stupid.. Dwight HOWARD HAS NEVER SAID ANYTHING TO THE MEDIA. EVERYTHING HAS CAME FROM SOURCES, WHO ARE LIABLE TO BE WRONG!!!

  • ALD

    @Jono he took his team to the finals. are you stupid or are you just trolling?

  • greg

    so instead of a free agent being able to go wherever the hell he wants, he opted in to be a prima donna for a year longer? smh. i think hes one of the 5 best players, but this needs to stop, move his ass somewhere for the drummond pick and start this crap over

  • IGGI

    @Mr. Magic… You right, it’s plain stupid to say Dwight is not that good. HELL YEA HE’S THAT GOOD!! I like to hear who else they think is not that good. I bet thy will be hating on KD too, when at the end of his contract he still has no ring and want to be traded. “”””They be saying he’s not that good”””””

  • Fresh Boirdee

    Dude’s on here are funny, “Dwight Howard is not even that good.” Could he be better? Yes. but to say he is not that good, is absolutely ridiculous. He brought his team to the NBA Finals, constant all-star, NBA first team, defensive player of the year… any team would take him in a heartbeat.

  • tpathi1

    haha if only the owner of the Magic was Dan Gilbert

  • LA Huey

    If you’re going to get a cake, why wouldn’t you want to eat it? Haha.

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    TRADE HIM FOR SHAQ!

  • McWill

    Plain in simple this dude will end up in Brooklyn or Dallas…no to LA cause thats too much expectations for him and he will be Kobe’s boy, and Houston doesn’t have the team or market that Dwight Howard is looking for…but I really wouldn’t be surprised if he stayed in Orlando…this guy just likes the attention…if he REALLY wanted to leave then he wouldn’t have signed that opt-in contract for this upcoming season…Im not saying Dwight Howard isn’t good, but he isn’t worth all this, imo of course

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    rockets should deal dragic with Kevin Martin and the draft picks. Why the hell don’t they want to keep Kyle Lowry?!?! Can you imagine Dwight at center and Lowry at PG? How great they’d be defensively?

  • http://www.soundcloud.com/tray-5 T-Ray

    Cosign Huey! You’d be a dumbass to get the cake and let it sit there

  • IGGI

    I want a cake, but I also want to eat it, Oh I forgot I should just let sit there. !!!!I got a cake and I ate it….My bad ya!!!

  • Ill Smith

    To hell with what he will & won’t do. I say Houston still make the move; if he ain’t have the balls to demand exactly where he wanted to go to Orlando he ain’t got the balls to show up in Houston & leave after a year. Not to mention the Rockets still have te cap space to sign DWill & revamp the whole team.

  • AiRsMiTh

    Agree with spit hot fiyah.

  • Phil the thrill

    Houston is trading the wrong players! What if the deal doesn’t go through, Houston is screwed! What if Dwight doesn’t stay, Houston is screwed! What if he stays, there screwed with the remaining surrounding players!

  • Ldub

    I wouldnt make any trades for Dwight. Not after the crazy back and forth action from this season. Especially if he would only be in town for 1 year? Hell naw. This dude can go hit the bricks. I have lost alot of respect for this dude. He handled this situation very wrong. He brought up LbJ’s name in one of his interviews…youd think he would have learned.

  • Ldub

    Teddy….alot of people sleep on Lowry. Someone the other day said he had reached his ceiling. I like the kid. He plays hard on both ends and makes smart decisions. I would like to see Lowry in an ORL uni. Shoot…that kid can come to Miami and play with LBJ, Wade and Bosh and get a ring. Now that would be a defensive team!

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