JULY 6: The trade is now official, with both teams announcing it in press releases. “C.J. is respected around the league for his defense, three-point shooting and leadership,” Wizards Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations Tommy Sheppard said. “All of those qualities appealed to us in making this deal and we look forward to him making a positive impact on our team.”
JULY 5: The Wizards are trading center Dwight Howard to the Grizzlies, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. Memphis plans to waive Howard or forward him to another team, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets.
Washington will receive swingman C.J. Miles in the deal, David Aldridge of The Athletic tweets.
The Grizzlies will shave $3.13MM off their team salary by dealing Miles, who is due $8.73MM next season. Howard has one year and $5.6MM left on his contract.
Additionally, Memphis has waived shooting guard Avery Bradley, Aldridge reports in another tweet. Bradley had a $12.96MM salary for next season but only $2MM was guaranteed. This gives Memphis even more flexibility to make moves, as Aldridge notes.
Bradley is a former client of current Lakers GM Rob Pelinka, which may impact his decision as a free agent, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders notes (Twitter link).
Howard opted in for the second year of his contract with the Wizards, who had no interest in keeping the former All-Star on the roster.
Howard, who spent his previous three seasons with three different teams in Houston, Atlanta, and Charlotte, was a complete washout last season. Having used the full taxpayer mid-level exception to sign him, Washington viewed Howard as its major offseason addition, but he only appeared in nine games. Spinal surgery and a hamstring injury during his rehab resulted in a lost season for the 33-year-old Howard.
Miles’ situation was similar. He opted in to his contract but the Grizzlies had little use for the three-point specialist with a hefty salary on a rebuilding squad.
Miles is recovering from a stress reaction in his left foot. The 14-year veteran, who started last season with the Raptors, was sent to the Grizzlies as part of the package for Marc Gasol in February. In total, Miles appeared in 53 games (16.2 MPG) for Memphis and Toronto, averaging just 6.4 PPG on .360/.330/.828 shooting.
Memphis had until July 8 to fully guarantee Bradley’s salary. He appeared in 63 games last season with the Clippers and Grizzlies, averaging 9,9 PPG and 2.4 APG in 30.2 MPG. Without Bradley on their roster, the Grizzlies are in much better position to match an offer sheet for restricted free agent Delon Wright without going into tax territory.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
His career has really took a turn for the worse the past few years….
Why not keep all the vets n try to succeed with Morant
Probably the biggest waste of talent ever in the NBA IMHO.
I wish I had 213 million in talent to waste!
That’s a stretch. He’s a hall of famer.
Right. I’ll see his future HOFer and raise him Darko.
U must think he’s pretty darn talented cuz he’s a lock for the HOF. 8x All NBA and 3x DPOY def enough for the bball HOF, his personality sucks tho no doubt
Literally prime Dwight Howard is arguably one of the greatest defenders ever
But.. but.. he had 2 bad years at the end of his career… BUST
Dwight who?
Not funny or sincere, not a point or an opinion or a vent or anything. Just a moldy spot of sarcasm.
He’s not bad, just declined.
I fail to see why the “source” needs to say he will be waived or traded, as if he cannot be allowed at camp. Very negative.
Dwight Coward
Lakers
Never welcomed back!!
I hate the narrative about this dude. He made a couple of mistakes like 7 years ago, got injured, and then everything is his fault
Mistakes? Screwed up Orlando, was a jerk in LA and they ran him out of Houston. He’s a problem wherever he’s been.
He has a net worth of 14o million. All star 8 times. All defensive team 4 times. Lead the league in rebounding 5 times. He should hang his head in shame.
Past tense. He WAS good. Now he’s just cashing checks.
Yes, he has gotten older. He should never show his face in public again.
Really? So besides being injured all of last year, b/c that’s somehow his fault too, what part of the season before that was just cashing checks? The narrative is incredible, but this isnt the only guy that suffers from that trash and the massive increase in toxicity that was seen by the rise of social media, and after the Lebron situation, which created a bunch more casual fans that only listen to what they hear on espn
Lol at thinking it wasnt harden’s fault in Houston after he rode the bench for them to get into the conference finals. Not his fault he got hurt in LA, and played in a similar situation as in Houston with Harden. Also, in the playoffs, he has shown he can score in the half court when he gets touches. The only mistakes I think it’s fair to criticize him for is how he handled the Orlando situation. The rest is just media driven garbage
Again, accepting a narrative. We’re you in the locker room to know specifics?
Just call it a career, Dwight. A hell of a career.
The problem with Howard is his lack of love for the game… I think. He never really improved his offensive game. He never really wanted to be great. Except he had great talent. He had a nice career. Has done some good things. But… so what? He was nobody’s favorite player.
Lack of love? People hated how carefree he was. He was singing Beyoncé at the free throw line when he was shooting. He went to the lakers and it changed his demeanor. Was elite? Yes. Losing it? Yes. If a team was to hand you a check right now would you turn them down? Of course not.
If he can land on the team with an established leader he would be all right. In only 25 minutes per game this past season averaged 12.8 PPG and 9.2 RPG there is definitely something still there.
i honestly had no idea he was still playing in the nba
You’re on the wrong website.
Dwight put up 13/9 in the 9 games he played last year
Not going to lie, but the Lakers need Avery Bradley. I’ve always been a big fan of him. I can think of a few teams he’d be great for, but of options remaining, they need to get him, in my opinion
Agree. He peaked early and maybe can get that spark back.
Right now, since they only have like 4 players on their roster, the Lakers need anyone with a pulse. Seriously, keep walking by Staples Center and they might sign you. You’ll triple your chances if you already have a jersey.
Howard lazy with bad attitude. HOF? NFW! He has no fan club except his many kids and their moms who are collecting checks from him.
He is a lock, no way he ain’t a HOF! Get over your hate dude!
Howard at a bargain or Boogie at an inflated price? For a center coming off the bench, I might go with the lower prices option.
He’ll be on GSW.
I’m usually a stats/injuries only guy. But, I tend to believe this is a case of everything other than the stuff that can be reported. Rightly or wrongly, I think he’s persona non grata. Maybe that’s a lack of perspective and acceptance within the NBA culture. But-he’s never not been productive. We got a total lack of updates this year on his medical status, I think Washington cast him aside in early moments of the season.
Grizzlies should trade him and Grayson Allen and a first round pick for Mo Bamba. (They gained lots of picks from GSW and the Jazz)
Orlando gets Allen a prospect who can shot the ball and play back up behind Fournier. It gets a first round pick to build with And it gets Dwight. Dwight they can keep and use him as a back up to Vuc and they could sell jerseys.
Meanwhile the Grizzlies get Bamba who can form a young twin tower with Jaren Jackson. Imagine how good a defense they could have with Jackson and Anderson on the wings and Jackson and Bamba swatting shots in the paint. The future for Memphis would look great and I haven’t even said anything about the offence and Ja Morant (there best player).
Pistons need a back up center. They can easily do alot worse than dwight for the vets minimum.
They have Thon Maker and Markieff Morris can cover centre
Stan Van Gundy playing Jameer Nelson coming back from injury instead of the fabulous Rafer Alston, who had a career year for the Magic, cost the Magic the championship. Jameer was not ready. Rafter played at his absolute peak that year. He had one more year in the league after that. It was a bad decision on Orlando’s part. Jameer should have stayed on the bench. That was Dwight’s best year. Is it time for him to retire? It could be.
That was the 2009 NBA Finals. Ten years ago.
It’s probably time for Dwight to hang it up or go overseas. I was one of many hoping for the Magic to beat the Lakers. They had such a great shot at it, but Jameer was just not ready to go. Rafer could have made it happen!
As much as I’m a huge fan of “Skip to my Lou” Rafer Alston, going into that series I didnt like their chances with Jameer injured. Jameer was never really the same after that either.
Bradley back to Boston