Dwight Howard apparently willing to sign with Orlando Magic for next season – NBA Report
The drama regarding Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic continues and took to roll.
Howard has now told his teammates at the Orlando Magic as well as the Magic front office that he is committed to playing for the Magic in the coming season. However, Howard did not mention his future with the Magic, beyond the
2012-2013 season.
As Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo reports, Howard called a meeting with his teammates in San Antonio and told them that he was staying with the Magic for the next season. The news comes as a surprise for both the Magic front office
and the NBA. D-12 has been indecisive about his future all season long. He decided to sign a one year contract extension on the eve of the trade deadline, after much speculation that he had requested a trade.
Now, after being in California since he underwent back surgery for a season ending injury, it seems as if he has distanced himself from the team as well as the city of Orlando, raising speculation that he would be traded in the
offseason.
The Orlando Magic are also losing patience with Howard and have given him till Wednesday to sign papers that will do away with an option for early termination of contract which Howard still has.
If he is unwilling to sign the papers, the Magic will try to trade him before the deadline. ESPN’s David Aldridge says:
“The request (to stay) was a “complete surprise” to the Magic, according to a league source. So was Wednesday’s declaration. But Orlando is not convinced Howard genuinely wants to stay. The Magic have asked Howard for months to
commit just to playing next year. His sudden acquiescence, a day before the trade deadline, is being viewed sceptically by the Magic — hence the demand that both Howard and agent Dan Fegan sign by Wednesday evening.”
Howard’s inability to commit to the team all though the 2011-2012 regular season has seen the team management as well as fans become weary of him.
He also had a fall out with Magic coach Stan Van Gundy after Van Gundy openly claimed in a press conference that a senior ranking official in the team management had disclosed to him that Howard has asked them to fire the coach.
Van Gundy was fired as the head coach at the end of the regular season in an attempt to sign Howard to an extended contract.
However, the move did not gather any response from Howard and even now, he is only claiming to commit for one more season. The Magic have now got to decide whether having Howard for one more season guaranteed is enough or they
should trade him and move towards building a new team.
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