Dwight Howard wants trade, causes ruckus at Orlando Magic – NBA Update
With the arrival of the free agency period the saga of Dwight Howard’s protracted exit from the Orlando Magic entered a new chapter, with the centre once again making clear he wanted out of the franchise. In a meeting with the new Orlando Magic General Manager,
Rob Hennigan, Howard demanded that he be traded to the Brooklyn Nets.
Howard has long been linked with a move away from the Magic, with Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks and lately Houston Rockets as potential suitors. However Brooklyn has largely remained his most favoured destination and the player apparently is still
keen on the idea of joining the large market franchise and linking up with super star Deron Williams.
Howard’s latest demands have not really gone down well with the club’s management or the ownership, with both growing tired of the super stars shenanigans.
Over the last year Howard was widely expected to depart this summer as a free agent. However, the Magic were able to convince him to sign a year’s extension to the existing contract. Afterwards differences between Howard and then coach Stan Van Gundy boiled
over with the latter claiming the former had tried to have him fired.
Van Gundy and the management were indeed shown the boot, and now it seems that had not been enough to placate Howard.
A new controversy developing is that Howard claims he was blackmailed by the Magic to sign the one year extension. ESPN reported this first.
“Howard picked up the option for the final year of his contract with Orlando on March 15. But since then he has grown increasingly disgruntled with the organization, even telling people close to him that he feels the Magic "blackmailed" him into signing
the "opt-in" clause. Howard feels the Magic made promises that have not been kept to get him to sign.”
Howard is apparently seeking to have his one year opt-in revoked and enter the market as a free agent, which is what would have happened if he had not signed on the dotted line earlier. The centre claims he did so in order to avoid being traded to teams
he did not fancy, such as the Los Angeles Lakers.
Dwight has also reportedly approached the NBA Players Association in this regard.
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