Yahoo! Sports today reiterated what most NBA fans and reporters have long believed to be the case: Dwight Howard will not be staying with the Orlando Magic for the long haul.
Interestingly, with Howard eyeing the Nets as his destination of choice, the thought is that it could even be in his interest not to seek a trade ahead of Thursday’s deadline. A trade with the Nets would likely result in key players like Brook Lopez, MarShon Brooks and some draft picks heading to Orlando, and that would make the Brooklyn-bound team weaker upon Howard’s arrival.
“There’s no misunderstanding from Howard’s camp that they will eventually sign with the Nets at the July 1 start of free agency,” explains the Yahoo! report.
As a result of that logic, if Orlando indeed accepts that Howard will be departing this summer, it makes sense to seriously consider finding an offer this week–a trade scenario would at least assure Orlando gets some “bang for its buck” in losing the all-star player.