Orlando Magic almost traded Dwight Howard to Houston Rockets in 2012
By Bryan Rose
In somewhat of an ironic twist, Dwight Howard was almost a Houston Rocket in 2012; not by choice, but by trade as the Orlando Magic nearly traded their former big man to Clutch City before the deal fell through.
Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey spoke to CBS Sports recently and dropped the mini-bombshell, suggesting that Dwight was almost traded to Houston a ‘couple times’:
"“We were sort of the ugly guy chasing the pretty girl for awhile,” Morey told Feinstein. “We [had tried] to trade for him twice. In fact, once we were allowed to talk to Dwight when free agency started off, he told us how – and we didn’t know this for sure – but how Orlando basically told him he was going to get traded to us if he didn’t re-up with them a couple years back when he re-signed. He was almost a Rocket a couple times. Obviously in this business, you’ve got to be well-prepared, and you have to have some good fortune.”"
CBS’ Ken Berger also reported that he confirmed through league sources that Orlando and Houston did in fact agree upon a tentative deal involving Howard in March of 2012, a trade which would have included a handful of young players from the Rockets going to Orlando.