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Report: High asking price, refusal to opt-in scuttled Dwight deals
The Houston Rockets' efforts to move Dwight Howard figured to be one of the more fascinating storylines of Thursday's NBA trade deadline. Would Rockets general manager Daryl Morey be able to find an offer enticing enough for Howard — still a very good center who's damn good in the playoffs, but now on the wrong side of 30 with a scary injury history and without the elite athleticism he once possessed — to make moving him palatable?
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As we learned Thursday, the answer was no. "The Rockets did what they could to move Howard out of Houston on Thursday," NBA sources told Chris Mannix of The Vertical, "canvassing the league for offers, plainly instructing teams to submit their best bids. No luck." And, as expected, it was the combination of Howard's downshift from franchise-changing talent to very good big man and his ability to opt out of the final year of his contract this summer to enter unrestricted free agency that seems to have put the kibosh on any dealing.
According to ESPN.com's Marc Stein, while Morey's high asking price in a Howard deal — "at least one frontline player and a future first-round draft pick in return" — contributed to the stasis, it was Dwight's commitment to testing the market this summer that finished the job:
"Many teams called expressing great interest in trading for Dwight," Howard's agent, Dan Fegan, told ESPN.com on Thursday night. "The obvious stumbling block to a trade was how could a team justify giving up important assets for a player who was about to become a free agent in a few short months?
"Not surprisingly, as the deadline approached, several teams called stating they had worked out the trade parameters with Houston for a Dwight deal but were not prepared to give up their assets unless Dwight agreed to opt into the last year of his contract and forego free agency. Dwight declined." […]
