NBA trade deadline: 5 trade destinations for Dwight Howard
By John Buhler
Dwight Howard plans to opt out of his deal with the Houston Rockets at the end of the season. Will the Rockets put their star center on the trading block?
Dwight Howard is once again unhappy with his current situation in the NBA. His Houston Rockets are a game below .500 at 27-28 and in ninth place in the Western Conference entering the post All-Star break portion of the 2015-16 NBA season.
The Rockets fired their head coach Kevin McHale merely weeks into the 2015-16 NBA season despite making it to the Western Conference Finals the year before. Houston was a sexy pick to win the 2016 NBA Championship at the start of the season.
Howard already had a star playmaker to work with in the backcourt in MVP runner-up James Harden. General manager Daryl Morey opted to bring over talented, but trouble point guard Ty Lawson in free agency, formerly of the Denver Nuggets, to give the Rockets more explosiveness off the bench.
With the mounting frustrations on the Texas Gulf Coast, Howard openly expressed his desire to opt out of his Houston deal to test the free agency market for the third time in four seasons. Howard wants one more big pay-day before he exits the prime of his NBA career.
With Howard likely not going to re-sign with the Rockets, here are five teams that Morey could trade Howard to before Thursday’s NBA trade deadline to hopefully get something substantial in return for a player that simply wants to walk away from the Rockets.
Next: 5. Memphis Grizzlies