Western Notes: Howard, Morris, Brown, Kilpatrick

Conflicting reports abound on whether the Rockets have explored trading Dwight Howard lately and whether they have a desire to move him. The Rockets have engaged teams about Howard but set a high asking price, league sources told Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), a notion that runs counter to the idea that Houston hasn’t had any Howard trade talk since December, as a source told Calvin Watkins and Marc Stein of ESPN.com and as we passed along Wednesday night. The trade market for Howard is relatively limited anyway, as Sean Deveney of The Sporting News hears, and that apparently extends to free agency, at least as far as the Mavericks are concerned. Dallas doesn’t have interest in giving the center a maximum-salary deal, according to USA Today’s Sam Amick, though Howard’s former teammate and recruiter extraordinaire Chandler Parsons spoke to Amick about his desire to play again with Howard, as Amick relays. See more from the Western Conference:

• Marcus Morris said Wednesday that what twin brother Markieff Morris wants hasn’t changed since he made his offseason trade demand, MLive’s David Mayo notes. Marcus has weighed in on his brother’s feelings about the Suns already this season but Markieff, who recanted his trade demand at the start of training camp, largely dismissed his brother’s previous remark.
• Lorenzo Brown is back with the D-League affiliate of the Pistons following the recent expiration of his second 10-day contract with the Suns while Sean Kilpatrick has returned to the Sixers affiliate after his second 10-day deal with the Nuggets lapsed, notes Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor (Twitter links).
• Erick Green is set to become a free agent tonight after the expiration of his 10-day contract with the Jazz. Keep track of all the short-term deals around the NBA with our 10-Day Contract Tracker.