Dwight Howard will be one of the most interesting free agents of the summer. The Houston Rockets center has a player option that he will almost certainly opt out of in order to secure potentially his final huge long-term deal.
Howard is now thirty years old and his athleticism has certainly declined. He is, however, still one of the premier centers in the league when healthy. At his peak, Dwight impacts games by massive amounts, especially on the defensive end. The age and declining health and athleticism issue, however, is an important one that could keep many teams from offering him a max contract.
One of those teams is the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavs have been involved in the Howard sweepstakes before and this summer seems to be no different. However, according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, Dallas is only interested in signing Howard for less than a max contract:
Sources says the Mavericks’ interest in Dwight Howard as a free agent this summer will be dependent on the price. The Mavs do not intend to be in on the bidding for Howard if it’s in the neighborhood of a max contract, which would have a starting salary of more than $30 million. The Mavs made Howard their primary target and offered a max contract in 2013, when the center signed with the Rockets. However, concerns about the 30-year-old Howard’s durability and desire have caused the Mavs to decide that he isn’t worth a nine-figure investment over four years at this point.
There are many valid concerns in signing Howard to a long-term max. Some team (the Orlando Magic may surprisingly be a candidate for this) will likely bite and give Howard that deal, meaning the Mavs will not be able to sign their long sought after free agency target. However, that may be for the best as the issues surrounding Dwight (age, health, and arguably immaturity) may end up making whichever team signs the star regretful of doing just that.
