Orlando Magic star Dwight Howard defiant, says will re-sign with only one team – NBA Update
Orlando Magic super star Dwight Howard has been in the news constantly over the last few days, with reports coming out over his possible move and his trade demands. The long-time Orlando player has made quite the ruckus behind closed doors and has now come
out in the open with his demand of a trade away.
More than that, Howard has insisted that if he were not traded to the franchise he wanted to go to, he will simply not re-sign after next season.
"There’s only one team on my list and if I don’t get traded there, I'll play the season out and explore my free agency after that." Howard told Yahoo Sports in a telephone interview.
The team in question is believed to be the Brooklyn Nets. Dwight has long been linked with a move to the Nets where he supposedly wants to link up with super star Deron Williams. The fact that Nets represent a huge market and more opportunities to chase
the NBA World Championship invariably influences Howard’s decision.
The centre refused to name the Nets during the interview as the team he wanted to go to, but it is widely known inside the NBA circles that Brooklyn is indeed his favoured destination.
It was reported earlier that Howard had expressed his desire to be traded away to the new General Manager of Orlando, Rob Hennigan. Dwight admitted such in the interview and explained that it wasn’t the first time he had demanded a trade. The centre had
actually been pushing for one since months, even before the recent firing of head coach Stan Van Gundy.
"This was not the first time [that I asked for trade]," Howard said. "I communicated this to [Magic president] Alex [Martins] and [former general manager] Otis [Smith] way before Friday that I wanted to be traded – months before this meeting with Rob Hennigan.
That was all way before Stan [Van Gundy] got fired."
The Nets also want Howard but have, at least for now, focused attention elsewhere, looking to sign a number of players as they rebuild. They could use the newly acquired players in a trade with Orlando, but nothing is clear yet.
Two teams that are interested in trading for Howard right now are the Los Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets.
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