Dwight Howard Ruining A Trade By Refusing To Opt-In For Next Year Is A Step In The Right Direction

LBS-  ESPN’s Marc Stein reports that Houston had been “aggressively” pursuing trades for Howard since before the start of the All-Star break. They discussed deals with the Celtics, Hawks, Hornets, Bulls, Mavericks and Bucks, but nothing came together because of disagreement over compensation or Howard’s contract.

Dan Fegan, Howard’s agent, told ESPN.com that multiple teams agreed to terms with the Rockets but backed out because Howard would not agree to opt into the final deal of his contract.

​“Not surprisingly, as the deadline approached, several teams called stating they had worked out the trade parameters with Houston for a Dwight deal but were not prepared to give up their assets unless Dwight agreed to opt in to the last year of his contract and forego free agency,” Fegan explained. “Dwight declined.”

Fegan would not say which teams came to agreement with Houston, but Stein reports that the Bucks were one of them.




And they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks! I never thought that Dwight Howard, of all people, would be the one to show me that people can change. It's never too late in life to be who you might have been, and if you don't believe me then look no further than Dwight Howard and his brand new ability to use foresight.

Now, I know what you are thinking, the only reason that Howard didn't sign off on a trade by opting in is because he wanted to leave his options open for this summer. You probably think that seems selfish and right in line with what the old Dwight Howard would do. That's where you would be wrong. The old Dwight Howard would be so anxious to get out of Houston that he would agree to play for Milwaukee (or wherever he got traded) next year, and then two weeks into next season he would be clamoring to get traded again. This is the guy that demanded to be moved from Orlando one week, opted in with Orlando a week later, and then a few months down the line demanded to be moved again. The guy that wore out his welcome in LA -the city he desperately wanted to play in- in like 10 minutes. He's a guy that has 8 children by 8 different mothers. He's always been more fickle than a menstruating woman, but at least now he acts accordingly. At least now he realizes he needs to be perpetually single, instead of early in his career when he kept jumping into complicated relationships with teams and women that didn't perfectly fit his desires. Sure, his decision to stay in Houston means he still plays for a team that he shares an inter-mutual hatred with, but at least freedom is just a few short months away. Happiness is on the horizon...until the next season when the sun goes down and he's on another team he doesn't like. Hey, at least that will be a team of his own choosing! You can say that Dwight Howard is temperamental, but you can't say he hasn't become self aware. As the saying goes, Rome wasn't built in a day.