Dwight Howard Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Lakers Notes: Howard, Kobe, Nash

June 30th, 2013 at 8:18pm CST by Zachary Links

Here's the latest out of Los Angeles as the Lakers prepare their pitch to Dwight Howard..

Howard's camp is unsure if Kobe Bryant will be there for the Lakers' pitch meeting as they've heard both yes and no, tweets Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld. Howard will meet with the Hawks, Rockets, Mavericks, and Warriors, but the Lakers will get last licks per their request.
Meanwhile, Steve Nash is expected to be a part of the meeting, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
After reaching the Finals four years ago, Howard desperately wants to get back to championship contention. Being able to play for a title is at the top of the big man's priority list, a source tells Shelburne and Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
League sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports that the Rockets are the frontrunners for Howard. Howard doesn't want this process to extend long beyond his final meetings on Tuesday and could have a decision before the end of the week, sources said.
A source close to Howard says that the big man isn't going to ask the club to do anything on his behalf in terms of additions or changes, tweets Mark Medina of the L.A. Daily News.
Earlier tonight, the Rockets shipped Thomas Robinson to the Blazers, freeing up enough room to allow them to offer Howard a max deal.

Rockets Waive Delfino, Brooks

June 30th, 2013 at 12:49pm CST by Chuck Myron

JUNE 30TH: Houston has waived Delfino and Brooks, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, taking his cue from Rockets GM Daryl Morey, who bid them farewell via Twitter. The Rockets were reportedly trying to trade both of them before their contracts became guaranteed at the end of today, but apparently found no takers.

JUNE 16TH: The Rockets have told the agents for Carlos Delfino and Aaron Brooks that the team will not pick up the options on their contracts for next season, reports Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. The same is true for Francisco Garcia, as Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston reported last month that the team will decline his option as well. The result is a savings of $11.908MM that the Rockets plan to put toward their pursuit of a marquee free agent.

Technically, Delfino and Brooks have non-guaranteed contracts for next season that would become fully guaranteed if they're not waived by June 30th, according to ShamSports.com. Essentially, that amounts to a team option on both. Delfino was set to make $3MM and Brooks $2.508MM, while Garcia's team option is worth $6.4MM next season.

The moves could be some of the last under the current phase of the team's roster construction, as Feigen details. If the team signs a big-time free agent this summer, with Dwight Howard as its primary target, it will shift toward an emphasis on veterans. The Rockets would prefer to avoid the luxury tax in coming seasons, but they're willing to go deep into the tax to keep many of their own players who are set to hit free agency in 2015, including Omer Asik, Jeremy Lin, Chandler Parsons and Patrick Beverley.

GM Daryl Morey and company will emphasize to free agents that the team has all of its future first-round picks, after having given up this year's first-rounder, and note that those draft choices can be traded for veterans. They'll also point to the mid-level and bi-annual exceptions the team will have once it goes over the cap as a means to acquire additional veterans.

In the past few seasons, Houston has turned over its roster in pursuit of superstars, but the team appears confident it will soon have a core it can build around for the long haul. The team pursued a similar veterans-first strategy in the early days of Morey's leadership, when Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming were star players.

Odds & Ends: Howard, Haslem, Mavericks

June 29th, 2013 at 11:52pm CST by Spencer Lund

Dwight Howard's upcoming courtship with a host of teams, both longshots and more realistic destinations, is the talk of the league tonight and probably will be moving forward as we come up on the start of the NBA's free agency period, starting with the July moratorium from the 1st to the 9th.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports put a column up earlier tonight stipulating that Howard's first discussion will be with a large, and star-studded coterie of the Rockets' former Hall-of-Famers, current stars, coaches and executives, but next up will be with the Warriors and Hawks on Monday and Mavericks and Lakers on Tuesday.

ESPNLosAngeles.com's Arash Markazi believes it'll be former coach, Phil Jackson, and his fiancee Jeanie Buss, who could be the final piece as to whether or not Howard stays with the Lakers or leaves for one of the other teams with the cap room to absorb a max deal (Twitter). Phil recently met with Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak, but both remained tight-lipped about what they discussed in that meeting (Twitter).

Let's look at more from Howard and others from around the league in yet another helter-skelter night in the NBA:

Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News writes that the Warriors are long shots in their bid to acquire Howard, and they'd likely have to dismantle some of the nucleus that reached the Western Conference Semifinals this past postseason. Kawakami also notes that despite their long odds at landing the big man, Warriors owner Joe Lacob has won a mini-victory just earning a spot on Dwight's free agency list this summer (Twitter).
Another possible Howard destination is with the Mavericks, and Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes that any possible trade for the Celtics' Rajon Rondo would have to wait until after the Mavericks secure Howard because of salary cap stipulations.
If Howard doesn't sign with the Mavs, Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News has plans for other free agent signings for the team this offseason.
Udonis Haslem revealed to the Associated Press today that he spent the second half of last season with the Heat suffering from a torn meniscus in his knee, which will require surgery soon. He's expected to be ready for training camp in the fall.
Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel notes that the Magic will guarantee guard E'Twaun Moore's contract for next season, after opting not to extend a qualifying offer to DeQuan Jones.
Al Iannazzone of Newsday says the Knicks GM Glen Grunwald will have to get creative this offseason if he's going to improve the Knicks' roster.
Michael Lee of the Washington Post reports the Wizards have promoted Pat Sullivan to assistant coach.
The newly-named Pelicans will look at small forwards in free agency this offseason, writes John Reid of the Times-Picayune.

Western Links: Brown, Mavericks, Clippers

June 29th, 2013 at 9:39pm CST by Spencer Lund

The deadline for the Suns to waive Shannon Brown in order to pay half of his $3.5MM salary for the 2013/14 season has passed, according to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic (Twitter). Brown was re-signed to a two-year deal worth $7MM with excess Suns' cap room in July of 2012.

The Suns could waive Brown and only eat half of his $3.5MM contract if they did so before whichever occurred first: 36 hours after 11:59 pm the day of the 2013 NBA Draft, or June 30th. That first deadline has passed, so now the Suns are on the hook for the full amount.

Here are some more notes on the Western Conference, including Kobe Bryant's thoughts on Dwight Howard's free agency:

Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News writes that no matter when the Mavericks see Howard, they'll have a captive audience.
But fellow Dallas Morning News columnist, George Diaz, wants his Mavs readers to remember that Howard cherishes fun over titles.
Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets that the Mavs don't expect to hear from Shawn Marion today, since they'll only be notified if he elects to opt out of the final of his contract, and they expect the deadline to pass quietly. Marion has an early termination option for the last year of a deal that will pay him $9.32MM next season (w/ some performance bonus'). SI's Chris Mannix confirms he's not going to opt-out (Twitter).
According to Bill Oram of the Salt Lake Tribune, DeMarre Carroll is hoping to get a longer stay with the Jazz.
ESPNLosAngeles.com writers Ramona Shelburne and Arash Markazi debate whether the addition of Doc Rivers makes the Clippers championship contenders.
Shelburne also says the Clippers are taking their time before making any moves after bringing on Doc Rivers (Twitter), so they're going to take their time with possible Eric Bledsoe and DeAndre Jordan moves.
Dan McCarney of the Express-News checks in with the Spurs' Euro stash.
Mike Trudell of Lakers.com spoke with the Lakers' Kobe Bryant about Dwight Howard's impending free agency, and sent out a few tweets with Kobe's answers.

Warriors Meeting With Howard Next Week

June 29th, 2013 at 6:59pm CST by Spencer Lund

7:14pm: USA Today's Sam Amick tweets that Howard will meet with the large Rockets contingent (see below) at 9 p.m. PST Sunday when free agency officially begins.

6:59pm: Sam Amick of USA Today tweets that Howard's schedule next week in LA includes Warriors and Hawks on Monday and Mavericks and Lakers on Tuesday.

This comes after Dwight meets with the Rockets late Sunday night when the free agency period officially starts at midnight.

ESPN.com's Ric Bucher earlier said Howard would not be meeting with the Warriors (Sulia link), but they have been granted the option to visit him, and will take that opportunity league sources tell him. This despite the unlikelihood the Warriors could afford Howard without a sign-and-trade (Sulia link).

6:14pm: Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that Warriors owner Joe Lacob, GM Bob Myers and coach Mark Jackson will meet with Howard next week (Twitter).

5:51pm: The Dwight Howard drama continues as we come up on the month of July when teams, other than the Lakers, can pitch the big man on joining forces this summer. Dwight's the biggest question mark among the star free agents this summer, after the Lakers had initially appeared to be the frontrunners to retain the three-time Defensive Player of the Year.

Chris Paul is likely to re-sign with the Clippers after they traded a 2015 first round pick to hire Doc Rivers away from the Celtics, but now the Clippers might be making a move to challenge the Rockets, Mavericks and Lakers for D-12's services, reports Sports on Earth's Shaun Powell (Twitter links).

The Clippers have the OK from owner Donald Sterling to do whatever it takes, but the acqusition of Howard would depend on a salary and sign-and-trade options, since signing Paul and Howard to max contracts would be untenable under the current CBA with their cap space.

According to Powell, Howard wants to play with Paul because he feels the point guard would get him the ball. Despite both Doc and Paul wanting Howard, they won't pursue him at the expense of Blake Griffin (Twitter links). Here's some more surrounding Howard's upcoming week talking with various team's jockeying for his services.

The Rockets are meeting with Howard first on Sunday night, with owner Leslie Alexander, CEO Tad Brown, general manager Daryl Morey, former stars Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler (the latter of whom comes via MyFoxHouston's Mark Berman), and current stars James Harden and Chandler Parsons, expected to be in attendance.
But the Mavericks are also putting together a group to meet with Howard on Tuesday in Los Angeles, according to Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (Twitter). Dirk Nowitzki and owner Mark Cuban are expected to be a part of the Mavs' formal pitch.
ESPNLosAngeles.com's Ramond Shelburne tweets that Dwight is expected to meet with at least four teams. Emphasis hers.
Marc Berman of the New York Daily News believes Dwight will head to the Rockets if he leaves the Lakers.
Kobe Bryant sat down with Mike Trudell at Lakers.com to share his thoughts on Howard's free agency and the importance of Howard arriving at his decision on his own.

Mavericks Interested In Trading For Rajon Rondo

June 29th, 2013 at 4:09pm CST by Chuck Myron

4:09pm: Two sources tell Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald that the Mavs and Celtics haven't engaged in any trade talk about Rondo, with one of the sources calling the notion "ridiculous."

2:11pm: The Celtics want Dirk Nowitzki in return for Rondo, and that's gummed up trade talks between the teams, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links). The Celtics are interested in Mavs draft acquisition Shane Larkin, too, notes Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).

2:05pm: The Mavericks are interested in acquiring Rajon Rondo from the Celtics, a source confirms to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. Mike Fisher of DallasBasketball.com originally reported the Mavs' engagement in talks with Boston. The Mavs would love to acquire Rondo as part of a recruiting effort to land Dwight Howard, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, but Wojnarowski cautions that the Celtics would require the Mavs to absorb multiple contracts as part of a trade. Taking back salary along with Rondo could make it difficult, if not impossible, for the Mavs to sign Howard.

Rondo has $24,863,636 left over the final two seasons of a team-friendly contract that ends in 2015. Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge told reporters Thursday that his team will not trade Rondo, but that won't stop the Mavs from asking, Washburn writes. Once the 2013/14 season officially starts in July, Dallas will have the cap space necessary to absorb Rondo's contract without taking on any other players. Still, Washburn figures the Mavs will want to send Shawn Marion's contract to the C's along with a younger player and a draft pick to entice Ainge into making a deal. Given Wojnarowski's report, I'm not so sure the Celtics would want Marion, but that's just my speculation.

The Mavs figure to have about $36MM in guaranteed salaries for next season, leaving just about enough room to sign Howard. Taking on Rondo without giving up an equal amount of salary in return wouldn't leave enough space for Howard or any other maximum-salary free agent, so I don't think a Rondo-Howard collaboration is likely in Dallas, unless the Mavs can engineer a series of other moves.

Rockets To Meet With Dwight Howard First

June 29th, 2013 at 2:38pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Rockets will meet with Dwight Howard late Sunday night in Los Angeles, soon after teams other than the Lakers become eligible to negotiate with the free agent center, reports Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com. The same can't be said for Golden State, as a source close to Howard tells Ric Bucher of 95.7 The Game that the sought-after free agent center won't visit the Warriors to hear a pitch from the team (Sulia link). An earlier report indicated that the Warriors were hoping to sit down with Howard, and that he was likely to indulge them on their request.

Houston's contingent will include GM Daryl Morey, coach Kevin McHale, owner Les Alexander, Hall-of-Fame Rocket Hakeem Olajuwon and current Rockets James Harden and Chandler Parsons, Goodman writes. The Rockets have emerged as the front-runner in the last few weeks for the famously indecisive Howard, whose most serious suitors appear to be Houston, the Mavs and the Lakers, according to Bucher. Parsons has said he's been in contact with Howard every day this spring.

The Warriors don't have cap space for 2013/14, so the only way they could acquire Howard would be via sign-and-trade as Bucher points out. Even if the Lakers agree to such a maneuver, the Warriors would have to send back close to $20MM in salary to make the deal work with a max contract for Howard, which could gut a roster that made it to the Western Conference semifinals last season.

The Hawks don't make much sense for Howard, Bucher writes, adding that Howard may listen to a pitch from Atlanta simply so he's not seen rejecting the notion of coming to his hometown team out of hand.

Western Rumors: Mo Williams, Mavs, Harris

June 28th, 2013 at 6:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

There's a major shakeup going on in the Eastern Conference now that Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce are on their way to Brooklyn. An even more resounding move could happen in the West, where Dwight Howard's primary suitors are. We've got more on that storyline and others from the Western Conference:

Mo Williams is expected to discuss re-signing in Utah with Jazz brass, but a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports that Williams isn't interested in returning if he's not the starter. Last night, the Jazz wound up with point guard Trey Burke in the draft, and he has eyes on the starting job, too, notes Jody Genessy of the Deseret News. (Twitter link).
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tells Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News that he has a couple of meetings with players scheduled to take place in Los Angeles, presumably referring to Howard and Chris Paul. Still, those two big fishes aren't the team's sole focus, as Cuban also says the Mavs were in discussions yesterday about a deal that would have prevented the team from making a maximum-salary signing this summer.
Devin Harris dropped hints Friday about returning to the Mavericks, where he began his career, as Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News observes. "It’s always crossed my mind," Harris said. "It’s crossed my mind since I left. Obviously, I think it would be cool to come back. But I also like it in Atlanta. It comes down to what best fits me."
Howard won't necessarily make the Lakers the last stop on his listening tour as he fields free agent pitches this summer, even though the purple and gold brass would like to see that happen, tweets Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News.
The Lakers are declining the chance to tender Darius Morris a $1.2MM qualifying offer, but the team has interest in re-signing him to a deal worth less than that, writes Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times. Andrew Goudelock may return as well, but Devin Ebanks won't be back, Pincus adds in a look at the team's would-be restricted free agents.
Brian Scalabrine is talking with the Warriors about joining the team as an assistant coach, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
The Spurs officially announced their hiring of Pacers assistant coach Jim Boylen as an assistant on Gregg Popovich's staff. Boylen is not to be confused with Cavs assistant Jim Boylan.

Odds & Ends: 2014 Draft, CP3, Mavs, Warriors

June 28th, 2013 at 2:08pm CST by Luke Adams

About 12 hours after the 2013 NBA draft officially came to an end, ESPN.com's Chad Ford was already looking forward to 2014. Ford's latest Insider-only blog at ESPN.com takes a very early look at the '14 draft class, which several scouts and GMs believe could be one of the strongest ever. While Andrew Wiggins in the consensus top prospect for '14, the rest of Ford's top 100 is considered well above average as well, with Julius Randle, Marcus Smart, Jabari Parker, and Andrew Harrison rounding out the top five.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the NBA:

Speaking of next year's draft, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today reports that the NBA is considering moving the event back at least a week next year, since the current setup doesn't leave much time between the Finals and draft night. However, the league doesn't want to postpone free agency and Summer League play significantly, so it's unclear whether or not the timing will work. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing the draft happen a few weeks after the free agency period begins, but it doesn't sound like that's an option.
Appearing on the Dan Patrick Show today, Doc Rivers said he talks to Chris Paul every day and that he believes CP3 wants to remain a Clipper (Twitter link via Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com).
Dirk Nowitzki addressed reporters, including Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com, on draft night and revealed that he has talked to Dwight Howard about the possibility of D12 signing with the Mavericks. "I reached out to him and told him we'd love to have him," Nowitzki said. "That's really about it. It's not like we call each other every day."
Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News has an excellent in-depth look into what happened in the Warriors' draft room last night, detailing how happy the team was with the end result of its series of trades.
Mike Brown's staff with the Cavaliers will include the following assistants, according to Bob Finnan of the News-Herald (via Twitter): Jim Boylan, Bernie Bickerstaff, Igor Kokoskov, Jamahl Mosley, Phil Handy, Vitaly Potapenko, and Bret Brielmaier.

Odds & Ends: KG, Pierce, D12, McMillan, Kanter

June 27th, 2013 at 5:44pm CST by Luke Adams

Draft rumors are dominating headlines today, but there are a few other stories and links we don't want to let slip through the cracks. Let's round them up….

As talks between the Celtics and Nets progress, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports tweets that the C's also raised the Kevin Garnett/Paul Pierce package to a Western Conference team, but few, if any, other clubs would go all-in like the Nets.
Perhaps that Western Conference team was the Timberwolves? Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities hears that Garnett's name, at least, has come up in Minnesota (Twitter link).
The Warriors are hoping to meet with Dwight Howard in free agency, and D12 figures to give them an audience, tweets Chris Broussard of ESPN.com.
Nate McMillan is finalizing an agreement to become the top assistant on Frank Vogel's Pacers staff, tweets Wojnarowski.
Enes Kanter will not be traded tonight, tweets Bill Oram of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News gives the Mavericks a 28% chance of landing Howard this summer, and thinks Andrew Bynum and Monta Ellis could be among the team's backup plans.
Ty Lawson and Brian Shaw met to discuss the Nuggets' future, as Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post details.