Houston Rockets sign C Dwight Howard to 4-year, $88 million deal
I’m just glad the Dwight Howard drama is over and that he didn’t drag it out that long. Look, I don’t think at this stage of his career that Dwight Howard is a max contract player but I also realize that the only way to land his services is to offer him the whole enchilada.
For a Houston Rockets team that appears to be on the rise, this is undoubtedly a huge splash just like the one they made prior to last season when they acquired James Harden from the Thunder.
Dwight Howard and James Harden suddenly give the Rockets the type of one-two punch that can allow them to possibly contend in the Western Conference as long as they can bring a few more pieces to round out the rotation. For the Rockets to lure him away from the storied Lakers franchise is a tremendous victory and the type of boost the franchise needed to move forward.
It will be interesting to see what the next domino will be for Houston. Omer Asik becomes expendable and will likely be moved to add another piece or two and Jeremy Lin’s name will definitely be floated around in more trade rumors. The target could be free agent Josh Smith since he and Howard have been good friends since their AAU days and the Rockets do need another forward alongside Chandler Parsons. The Rockets would have to work out a sign-and-trade with Smith and the Atlanta Hawks since they don’t have the cap space to outright sign him.
Grade: B
David Kay is a senior feature NBA Draft, NBA, and college basketball writer for the Sports Bank. He also heads up the NBA and college basketball material at Walter Football.com and is a former contributor at The Washington Times Communities. David has appeared on numerous national radio programs spanning from Cleveland to New Orleans to Honolulu. He also had the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft and the most accurate 2012 NBA Mock Draft on the internet (Yup, repeat champ… #humblebrag.)