Warriors Dropping Out Of Dwight Howard Race

We're following all of the day's Dwight Howard rumors right here, but the news out of Golden State is worthy of its own post. Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob said today that he doesn't expect the team to go after Dwight Howard via trade, as Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com writes.

“I doubt it,” Lacob said. “I never say never. But we have somebody called Andrew Bogut. He is, in our opinion, one of the three best centers in the whole NBA, and in most people’s opinion. And he wants to be here and is a great fit. We think we have a really nice nucleus now going forward.”

Warriors GM Bob Myers told reporters, including Matt Steinmetz of CSNBayArea.com, that the team isn't likely to be aggressive in free agency, either, though they're reportedly the frontrunners for J.J. Hickson. The Warriors are over the cap and have the $5MM mid-level exception at their disposal, but using it would push them across the luxury tax line, something the team is unwilling to do, Steinmetz says. That would mean the Warriors are unlikely to sign Kirk Hinrich, Raymond Felton, Kris Humphries, Ersan Ilyasova, Carl Landry, Brandon Bass, Jason Kidd and others, according to Steinmetz. Howard-Cooper says the next item on the agenda for the Warriors is to add depth at power forward, point guard, or both, suggesting Reggie Evans and Shelden Williams as power forward possibilities.

Lacob and Myers spoke before the Nets agreed to acquire Joe Johnson, likely knocking them out of the Howard race, too. As Chad Ford of ESPN.com surmises via Twitter, Howard will be forced to add a team other than the Nets to his list of preferred destinations, so there remains a chance, however slight, the Warriors get back into Howard talks at some point or another. 

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