The NBA rumors continue with Dwight Howard even as he was not traded before the deadline.
According to various reports, there were some teams willing to trade for the center but wanted Howard to opt in. He has a player option for $23 million for next season, but if he opts out, he can demand a max salary based on the new cap which is projected to start at $30 million.
Teams want at least one more season from Howard and also to test if he still has enough in the tank to be worthy of such a huge amount, but D12's camp knew that there would be some other teams who would be willing to offer him that amount.
One of those teams could be the Houston Rockets themselves according to a report by Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. In that article, Rockets GM mentioned that there is actually mutual interest for Howard to stay in Houston and the trade talks were overblown.
"Dwight's a great player," Morey said after the deadline. "He wants to be in Houston. We want him to be in Houston. I was disappointed some things got out rumor-wise, but all those things were myself doing diligence. That's part of my job..."
Morey's statements could be interpreted as damage control as they no longer have the ability to salvage assets for him. He is well-aware of the fate of the Los Angeles Lakers when Howard walked away from them to join his team, and that team has yet to fully recover.
Feigen also stated that the team still has plans to pursue Kevin Durant: "In keeping with their usual free-agent strategies, the Rockets plan is to chase the summer's top free agent, Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant, using the chance to play with two top-echelon players as the heart of the pitch they hope to make."
They plan to sell the tandem of Howard and Harden, and also hinge on the relationship between the two former teammates. However, as NBC points out, there are still a lot of variables.
Howard and Harden have not exactly been best of friends and most observers can see that on the court, singling it out as one of the factors why they disappointed this season. Would Durant leave OKC to join that volatile situation, when the Thunder has not had any such problem (except, as some quarters would point out, with Harden himself asking for a bigger role thus necessitating the trade) with their core intact for years?