NBA Free Agency Rumors: Orlando Magic, Dwight Howard have no interest
Dwight Howard has been tied to the Orlando Magic for several months now. It appears it is all talk with a report neither party has interest in a reunion.
The Orlando Magic have been seemingly tied to former All-Star center Dwight Howard ever since a Bleacher/Report post came out during the season stating Howard, or someone in his camp, had tried to reach out to the Magic through back channels to gauge their interest.
From there, the rumor mill churned and churned. Reports came out and analysis was written tying the Magic to Howard during this important free agency period for them. It is something that persists.
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Debate among Magic fans whether to bring Howard back, considering all the baggage and his deterioration as a player, continues to rage. It was a very divisive issue among fans.
The reality though is that it was all talk. There were no indications the Magic were interested in pursuing Howard as they made their free agency plans.
The feeling coming from them was that thy had no interest in a reunion.
Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel has reported on numerous occasions the reunion would be unlikely because the Magic have no interest in bringing him back. His skills have simply deteriorated too much and he would not be worth the amount it would cost to sign him to a multi-year deal.
The tea leaves now seem to be pointing away from a reunion.
In a chat for Basketball Insiders, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders fended off questions about the reunion. He gave at least one seemingly definitive answer:
"I was told by both sides that a Orlando reunion is highly unlikely.The Magic don’t want it and I am not sure Dwight does either. I know a lot of people keep saying Dwight would, but people in his life say no chance. He does not want the luggage that would come with that."
Indeed, it seems the baggage and the pain of that disastrous 2012 season is too much to overcome. The relationship between the Magic and Howard has not had enough time to mend to make it possible and certainly fans still feel passionately against him — overwhelming those who feel nostalgic toward Howard.
The reality too is that Howard is not the same player he was in Orlando. Howard had his lowest scoring average since his rookie year, also taking the fewest field goal attempts since then too despite shooting a career-best 62.0 percent from the floor. He also had his second straight year with a defensive box plus/minus below 2.0, the first time that has happened since his first two years.
It is certainly possible it was just a bad situation for him with the Rockets. He has said as much with how little he got the ball this year on offense. But it is also possible that injuries have sucked away his athleticism on defense and he is no longer the defensive force he once was.
Undoubtedly though, his rim protection is still valuable in the league. And the Magic certainly could use a rim protector. In a vacuum, it seems Orlando should at least consider Howard as an option. But reality is that baggage from 2012 exists.
The Magic’s free agent plan is still very much under development.
Kyler in his chat speculates the Magic will get in line to pursue Al Horford and look to throw their money at a player with some recent All-Star experience. With so many teams having cap space, it is hard to get a handle on who has interest in whom. It might be easier to list the number of teams that are not interested.
And so there is a very real chance the Magic add secondary pieces instead of going after the big fish.
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That would seemingly open the door for Dwight Howard on a short-term deal. But it also appears that is not something Howard is interested in nor the Magic. So maybe cross him off the list.