Dwight Howard demands trade from Orlando Magic; Refers Otis Smith as a reason – NBA Update
Orlando Magic star centre Dwight Howard has been in the thick of trade rumours ever since the team lost out to the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of playoffs last season.
However, throughout the months leading up to the free agency, Howard spoke of his commitment to the franchise and that he will give it another year if the management made some suitable switches to support him.
It now seems that things are not going as he had wished.
On Saturday, the big man publically made the demand of being traded from Orlando and on Sunday, he disclosed the reasons leading to that decision. The major among them was Howard’s relationship with the Magic general manager Otis
Smith;
"I'm pretty sure if you go down the line of teams, every GM has a pretty good relationship with not just the best player but all the players," Howard said. "If you don't have a good relationship with the people you work with, how
are you going to get better?"
The origin of the discord in the relationship stemmed from the series of trades that Otis has carried out in the last year or so and according to Howard, he was never taken on board.
The Magic made a block buster trade in December last year to bring in Gilbert Arenas and Hedo Turkoglu and had earlier (in 2009) roped in Vince Carter, who was sent to Phoenix Suns in that trade. Despite Arenas failing to make
a mark last season, Howard wanted him to stay, but the Magic rather amnestied him to clear the cap space.
This apparently triggered the trade request.
"The stuff that I have asked for, the stuff I felt our team needed to get better, none of it has happened," Howard said. "That's not me being cocky but I want to be involved with the organization. I've been here for a long time,
I don't want to sit around."
Otis Smith has refuted these claims though. In an interview with Orlando Sentinel, the GM stressed that Howards was taken into confidence before making every trade.
At present, the Magic have allowed the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks and the New Jersey Nets to engage with Howard and his agent. The deal at this point would actually be more beneficial for the Magic, considering that they
will be left with nothing if Howard departs in the free agency.
Whoever, he sign with in the days to come, one thing is for sure that the ‘Superman’ will not be adorning a Magic jersey again.
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