Mr. Howard goes to Washington
With a buyout by the Brooklyn Nets finalized, Dwight Howard is set to sign with the Washington Wizards.
Dwight Howard was going to be looking for a new team soon, once a buyout with the Brooklyn Nets was officially agreed to. The Washington Wizards have a void to fill at center after trading Marcin Gortat to the Clippers. According to Jared Weiss of The Athletic, Howard will sign with the Wizards when he clears waivers and the league’s moratorium on transactions ends on Friday.
Howard was traded from the Charlotte Hornets to the Nets last month, for Timofey Mozgov, two second-round picks and cash. The Nets were never going to keep him, so talk of a buyout started immediately in order to set Howard free on the open market.
Howard is clearly no longer in his prime, and he never developed a full offensive game beyond dunks and bunnies at the rim. As NBA big men have extended their games to the three-point line, the eight-time All-Star has fallen behind (17 attempts from beyond the arc over the last four seasons). There’s something to be said for knowing your strengths, as Howard was just 1-for-7 from three-point range last year, but he’s about as old school as old school gets among NBA centers.
Dwight Howard has finalized a buyout with the Brooklyn Nets and will sign a 1-year deal for the tax MLE with the Washington Wizards once he clears waivers, league sources tell The Athletic.
— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) July 3, 2018
But Howard was pretty productive for the Hornets last season, averaging 16.6 points, 12.5 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game while shooting over 55 percent from the floor. So he’s far from useless, assuming health after playing 81 games for Charlotte last year.
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Wizards guard John Wall had issues with Gortat, and openly called for the acquisition of an athletic big man after the team’s playoff exit. Howard’s days as an incredibly explosive, intimidating dunker are gone, but the standard of being more athletic and mobile than Gortat is a low hurdle. As long as he is able to co-exist with his teammates better than he has in his last few stops, apart from averaging something close to a double-double, Howard will be a good fit for the Wizards.