Dwight Howard Being Traded to Nets for Timofey Mozgov, Reports Say
Dwight Howard is heading to Brooklyn, and in his place, the Charlotte Hornets will be getting Timofey Mozgov plus a bunch of other considerations to sweeten the deal, according to league sources. The deal includes two future second round picks plus cash to Charlotte to go along with Mozgov in exchange for their veteran center.
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski was among the first to break the news, as the well-known NBA insider took to social media to explain the situation on Wednesday, June 20.
"Charlotte is finalizing a deal to send Dwight Howard to the Brooklyn Nets for Timofey Mozgov, league sources tell ESPN. Nets will save $17M on deal in 2019-20 season, allowing them to create two max salary slots," he wrote, referring to Mozgov's notoriously cap-heavy contract that the Nets will be unloading to the Hornets.
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In order to put themselves in a situation where they can get Dwight Howard, widely considered a future Hall of Famer, and prepare possible offers for big-name free agents this offseason, the team is willing to spend some of its future capital.
Even then, two second-rounders plus a bit of money makes a lot of sense for the Nets if they're getting Howard in return, as Bleacher Report pointed out. Howard is due to get paid $16 million this season plus a slight increase after that, at $16.7 million in the 2019-20 NBA year.
And so, Howard's chronic team-hopping continues, through no wish of his own this time. Howard has been to five teams over the last six seasons, so this deal has puzzled NBA analysts given that the 32-year old actually improved on his numbers for the Hornets this past season.
Howard averaged 16.6 points, an impressive 12.5 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game for the Hornets in his limited time, a record that only pales in comparison the rest of his eight-time All-Star career prime.
