Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard. (Photo : Getty Images)
Reports are out that the New York Knicks are in "the midst of a massive turnover" as head coach Derek Fisher was recently fired. Apparently, all of Phil Jackson's players, except for Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis, are on the trading block and so a deal is bound to happen before the trade deadline.
One rumor emerging from the mill is the Knicks' predicted interest on the Rockets big man Dwight Howard, who is also reportedly being shopped around by Houston as of late.
Fansided's Daily Knicks reported that the 30-year-old might just be the "defensive anchor" that the team is looking for to once more become a legitimate playoff contender.
The eight-time NBA All-Star is said to be keen on exercising the player option in his four-year, $87.6 million contract this summer, which will make him an unrestricted free agent and available for everybody.
Houston does not want to lose him for nothing and so the Rockets are currently testing the trade market for the three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year.
Howard's numbers have been slowly declining since he first came to Houston from the Los Angeles Lakers in July 2013. From averages of 18.3 points and 12.2 rebounds in 2013-2014, it went down to 15.8 and 10.5 last season, albeit his field goal shooting percentage is still almost 60 percent from both seasons.
Currently, he is averaging 14.6 points and 12.0 boards, shooting at a high 61.2 percent on the floor, but the Rockets have slowly been phasing him out because of their isolation-oriented offense based on shooting guard James Harden.
Meanwhile, CBS Sports noted that the chance of Howard being dealt before the Feb. 18 deadline has been slowly "waning" as the five-time All-NBA First Teamer said that he is "not running" from their dismal situation in Houston.
The Rockets are presently donning a win-loss record of 27-28, ninth place in the Western Conference and just half a game behind eighth seed Utah Jazz if the playoffs would begin today. They are currently on a three-game losing slide.
Harden told reporters in a radio interview that "we're going to make this work," indicating that Howard might stay with the Rockets at least for the rest of the season.
New York is 28th in the league in inside scoring right now and they could really use Howard to improve that stat if ever they successfully land him this year.
