Reports earlier today said that The Boston Celtics and the Houston Rockets had engaged in trade talks centered around Rockets’ center Dwight Howard(per NY Daily News).
That trade is unlikely to occur, though, according to Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE:
The reported interest on the Boston Celtics’ part in Houston’s Dwight Howard is accurate, but talks (for now at least) aren’t expected to go much further than the discussion phase of negotiations, according to a league source.
Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald reports that there really wasn’t any discussion, and that Boston inquired, but Houston said no. From Bulpett:
Amid reports the Celtics were pursuing Rockets center Dwight Howard, one had reason to ponder that possibility, but multiple league sources have told the Herald there are no such talks.
Team A calling Team B in recent weeks to ask if it would give up assets A, B and C for Player A — and being told, “No” — does not a negotiation make. Rather it makes for a pretty quick and fruitless phone call.
While Boston probably isn’t the team for Howard, the Rockets are actively trying to trade the former 3-time Defensive Player of the Year, per Bulpett:
It’s clear the Rockets would like there to be a market for Howard, and word is they’ve made efforts to move him. But it doesn’t appear teams are lining up for a 30-year-old center with physical issues who, in his 12th season, is a liability in crunch time because of his inability to consistently hit free throws.
Howard doesn’t seem long for Houston, and Houston moving him before the trade deadline(February 18) wouldn’t come as a shock.
