Dwight Howard Delays Free Agency, Will Remain With Magic Next Season

JaVale McGee is a restricted free agent at the end of the year and the Wizards have been reportedly willing to move him for the right deal for quite some time. The man that the Nuggets are dumping to acquire him, Nene, is currently making in the neighborhood of what McGee is going to cost them or someone else this offseason. For their part in all of this, the Clippers get a swingman who can score.

For more on the three teams involved, head over to Washington Wizards blog Bullets Forever, Los Angeles Clippers blog Clips Nation and Denver Nuggets blog Denver Stiffs. All your NBA trade deadline needs can be found at our NBA trade rumors StoryStream.

Meanwhile, Pierce, Allen and Garnett are all having somewhat subpar seasons. None of them are living up to career scoring averages with all three averaging about 4.0 points less than their career norms.

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Crawford was included in the most rumors and was supposedly involved in a deadline deal that fell through. The Blazers simply couldn’t find any takers for Felton.

Fisher, 37, is averaging just 5.9 points per game in reduced minutes this season. Hill is a former first-round pick in 2009 that has fallen out of favor in Houston.

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The Rockets had been pursuing Camby for a long while and Houston was reportedly Camby’s preference of destinations should he be traded. Camby is averaging six points and over 14 rebounds per 36 minutes this season, his 16th in the league.

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With less than an hour before the deadline, though, Yahoo! is corroborating Bucher’s report, saying the two teams are in advanced discussions.

Jackson has played in 26 games this season and is averaging almost 14 points per 36 minutes. Jefferson, on the other hand, has started every game for the Spurs this season and is averaging almost 12 points and four and a half rebounds per 36 minutes.

“I’ve always believed loyalty is before anything, and I owe loyalty to [general manager] Otis Smith and [Magic owner Rich DeVos and] the whole DeVos family. I want to try to make this work not just for our family, but for the city,” Howard said.

Howard said he’s “glad this is finally over with” and that he went “back and forth” for several months before coming to a decision. He compared his situation to anyone switching jobs or locations, saying “it’s a tough decision and it’s not something that’s simple.”

It’s clear the New Jersey Nets are trying to surround Deron Williams with talent, hoping he won’t opt out of the final year of his contract this summer.

Wallace is averaging 13.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, which are his lowest totals in several years.

With only a couple hours remaining before the deadline strikes, Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated has all but ruled out the possibility of Nash getting moved.

Nash is averaging an NBA-best 11.1 assists per game this season and shooting a remarkable 55-percent from the floor.

Wallace is having a bit of a down year, averaging 13.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, his lowest totals in years.

The decision should temporary suspend all trade talks, unless the Magic decide to deal Howard anyway, which is unlikely. On Wednesday, Howard first told teammates he would sign the waiver, then said he wouldn’t and finally announced he would again in an interview with Real GM.

Howard’s future in Orlando beyond next season remains up in the air, but this at least will give the Magic more time to construct a championship roster around Howard. Orlando is 28-16 this year, good for third in the Eastern Conference.

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Augustin is slated to be a restricted free agent this summer, so teams may be wary to trade significant assets to land him. He was selected with the No. 9 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft.

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Celtics general manager Danny Ainge appeared on the “Dennis and Callahan Show with Dale Arnold and Kirk Minihane” Thursday morning and, while it wasn’t anything groundbreaking, the man holding the key to a couple of intriguing trade pieces said his team was “50-50” on if they’ll make a deal before Thursday afternoon’s NBA trade deadline.

Ainge has options, too, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports several teams are interested in trading for Allen.

The Pacers did not have to send any players back to the Raptors because they have enough cap space to absorb Barbosa’s salary. Barbosa cap number is $7.6 million this year before becoming an unrestricted free agent in the summer. The Raptors, meanwhile, trim the same amount off their payroll this season.

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The deal is yet to be finalized, but the Philadelphia Daily News’ Bob Cooney posted on his blog that the deal has been agreed upon, according to his sources.

The Memphis Commercial Appeal reports the second round pick in question is Ricky Sanchez.

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The Magic told him to sleep on it.

Denton calls the move “classy.” Others might call it “deluded,” “naive” or “absolutely stupid in every possible way.” Howard, you see, hasn’t exactly shown a willingness to make a decision and stick with it over the last six months or so. He changed his mind on the ETO waiver three times on Wednesday alone, at least according to the reports that surfaced throughout the day. To be given a window to lock him in and tell him to sleep on it is akin to the horror flick killer who sabotages himself with a grand soliloquy while holding a knife to the protagonist’s throat.

Howard made the decision late Wednesday night to opt-in to an extra season in his contract, effectively making all of the speculation of where he might go absolutely worthless. Unless one listens to SB Nation’s Tom Ziller, however, as he’s an advocate of the Magic trading Howard now that he has opted-in ... which would just create an awesome, fun mess for everyone involved. Our own Mike Prada looked at something similar on Wednesday, too, deciding to check in on the best places the Magic could trade Howard just out of spite.

There are sure to be quite a few rumors coming out following the publishing of this column so be sure to stay tuned to our StoryStream dedicated exclusively to the NBA trade deadline for up-to-date news and rumors. For now, though, a look back at what everyone might have missed while they were sleeping.

Signing the waiver is a ‘Get Out of Jail’ card for the Magic. The Magic have operated this season at a distinct disadvantage in this trade game: they were the only ones facing a deadline. If Dwight signs the waiver, that deadline is gone. Power is back on Orlando’s side.

Of course, trading Howard after he commits to Orlando seems untenable, because it’s pretty evil. But ...

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RealGM.com’s Alex Kennedy followed Rudolph’s report with confirmation and a suggestion that Howard could consider firing his agent Dan Fegan.

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But later in the day, the story changed, whether because the media previously had it wrong or because Howard changed his mind. Regardless, Howard now will not waive his opt-out, meaning Orlando has a few hours to deal the All-Star before risking losing him for nothing in July.

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