Dwight Howard teased the Los Angeles Lakers only to leave them for Daryl Morey for the second time in his career.
In 2013, Howard was a major free agent, and the Lakers reportedly tried everything to convince him to stay. Instead, Howard left and signed with the Rockets. Morey was running things in Houston at that time.
Fast forward to 2020, and the Lakers reportedly wanted to retain Howard yet again. And guess what happened? He teased Lakers fans by tweeting he was staying, only to delete the tweet. An hour later, we learned that Howard agreed to join the Philadelphia 76ers.
And guess who’s running the Sixers now? That’s right, Morey.
Naturally, the Twitter reactions were great.
Howard signed with Philly on the veteran minimum for $2.6 million. The low salary makes many wonder whether the Lakers rescinded the offer, possibly because they have something else cooking. There are some possibilities that could make sense for the Lakers.
The Detroit Pistons are going all-in on big men early in free agency. However, their decision to do so could mean that their most reliable big man last season won’t be there anymore.
Free agent forward Christian Wood remains unsigned, and has been linked to few teams outside of Detroit. However, the Pistons have brought in three big men — Mason Plumlee, Jahlil Okafor, and Josh Jackson — in the early hours of free agency. In addition to making them the butt of a lot of jokes, that calls into question whether the Pistons have the money or the roster space to keep Wood. That’s especially true when considering Plumlee is reportedly getting $25 million over three years.
The Pistons also took on Trevor Ariza’s salary during Wednesday’s NBA Draft. For now, they appear intent on keeping him.
Despite the center signings, Rod Beard of the Detroit News reported the Pistons may still try to bring Wood back. It’s not completely implausible, but it also appears less likely as time progresses. Even if Wood profiles as a power forward, the Pistons now have a glut of big men. Unless Wood is willing to take roughly $10 million with the Pistons still owning his Early Bird rights, it’s hard to see the financial fit, too.
Wood was the Pistons’ breakout star last season, averaging 13.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. One Eastern Conference contender was said to be interested several months ago.
The Detroit Pistons made it their business to corner the market on big men, and their moves led to plenty of jokes.
News emerged Friday that the Pistons are signing Mason Plumlee to a three-year, $25 million deal. They also agreed to a two-year deal with Jahlil Okafor. As if that weren’t enough, the team recently acquired Dewayne Dedmon and Tony Bradley, and they drafted Isaiah Stewart.
With so many centers in the fold, the Pistons made themselves the focus of numerous jokes on social media. Take a look.
Detroit has a surplus of big men, which likely means they expect Christian Wood to leave in free agency. Still, they can’t play all of them at the same time, making you wonder what exactly they are doing.
Something odd is going on with Dwight Howard.
The Los Angeles Lakers want to bring Howard back next season and are negotiating with him in free agency. On Friday, Howard even announced on Twitter that he was staying with the Lakers.
“I’m staying right where I belong,” Howard wrote in his tweet. “Laker nation I love y’all. Purple and gold never gets old.”
Even Shams Charania reported that Howard agreed to a deal with the Lakers.
However, Howard quickly deleted the tweet, raising some questions.
Was the tweet sent out in error or prematurely by the center or a member of his team? Did some term of the deal with the Lakers change? Did another team come through with an offer he is considering?
Howard previously seemed to indicate a report about the Lakers heavily pursuing him in free agency was a lie. Howard averaged 7.5 points and 7.3 rebounds in 18.9 minutes per game last season. Interestingly, Howard deleted around the same time a report said free agent center DeMarcus Cousins was also receiving lots of interest.
The Sacramento Kings are keeping De’Aaron Fox long term for a hefty price.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Kings have agreed to a five-year deal with Fox. It is worth an initial $163 million, with the potential to rise to a $195.6 million supermax deal.
It’s clear that the Kings will be building around Fox for years to come. The 22-year-old is coming off a season that saw him average 21.1 points per game, a career-best mark, and 6.8 assists per game. Plus, it’s pretty clear that he’s very comfortable in Sacramento despite the smaller market and lack of success.
Fox is quickly developing into a leader and a star for the Kings after just three NBA seasons. As long as he stays healthy, this deal should pay off for everyone involved.
The Los Angeles Lakers’ new additions to their backcourt may be leaving Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as an odd man out.
SportsNet New York’s Ian Begley reports Friday that rival teams monitoring Caldwell-Pope’s free agency expect the New York Knicks to have interest in him. The Knicks have nearly $40 million in cap space to work with.
Caldwell-Pope, 27, seems less likely now to return to the Lakers after they signed Wesley Matthews and traded for Dennis Schroder. The Knicks have reportedly been pursuing Gordon Hayward with some of their cap room, but that could inevitably be a lost cause.
In any event, the Knicks recently waived guard Elfrid Payton, creating an opening in their backcourt. Caldwell-Pope also used to be teammates with a pair of Knicks: Reggie Bullock on the Detroit Pistons and Julius Randle on the Lakers. New York may ultimately be a more desirable destination than this other cap-space team with interest in Caldwell-Pope.
The Miami Heat were able to lock up Goran Dragic for another two seasons, and that is very good news for all parties.
Dragic is getting a two-year contract with Miami for $37.4 million. The Heat went all-out to convey the message that they wanted Dragic to stay with the team. They put up posters and billboards all over Dragic’s home in Slovenia to show how much they wanted him.
Another person who wanted Dragic back badly was Butler. Dragic told the AP’s Tim Reynolds that Butler (half-seriously) threatened him with physical violence if he didn’t re-sign.
“Jimmy’s a tough guy. … I didn’t want him chasing my a–,” Dragic joked.
Crisis averted, because Dragic is back. And we wouldn’t put it past Butler to do everything possible to ensure Dragic returned.
The Heat have a lot to build upon from last season. The team only finished fifth in the East in the regular season, but they made a run to the NBA Finals. Dragic and Bam Adebayo got injured during the Finals, which changed things and even led to a controversial comment from Pat Riley.
With Dragic back, Miami can now continue to improve and see if they can break through for a championship.
It’s been several years since DeMarcus Cousins has been consistently healthy, but the free agent center is still drawing significant interest.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Cousins is receiving “early attention” after becoming a free agent on Friday. It was not clear which teams have checked in on the 30-year-old center.
As Woj notes, it’s not a great time to be an NBA center on the open market. However, teams clearly still have some belief in Cousins’ skillset. He retains all the traditional skills of a center, but he can also shoot, as evidenced by his 33.2 percent career mark from three-point range. For a big man, that’s very serviceable.
Whichever team signs Cousins probably can’t count on him playing a huge role. That said, the team that had him last really liked him and showed interest in keeping him. That speaks well of him.
The Los Angeles Lakers are doing a little addition by subtraction.
The Lakers are signing free agent Wesley Matthews to a 1-year deal worth $3.6 million, according to Shams Charania.
Matthews declined a $2.7 million player option for next season, likely because he knew he could sign for more in free agency.
The veteran shooting guard was a big scorer earlier in his career but has become more of a role player now. He will give the Lakers some three-point shooting, which the team needs after trading Danny Green.
Matthews is a career 38.1 percent 3-point shooter and shot 36.4 percent on threes in 67 games with the Milwaukee Bucks last season. So not only are the Lakers adding an experienced shooter, but they’re also taking one away from another championship contender.
Lakers fans, show everyone who runs LA with this great T-shirt. It makes a perfect gift for you or a friend. You can buy it here.
Gordon Hayward appears to know where he wants to go in free agency.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Hayward is “fully focused” on joining the Indiana Pacers in free agency. The veteran forward was born in Indianapolis and played college basketball at nearby Butler.
Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe reported that the Celtics are aware of Hayward’s desire to join the Pacers and are engaged in sign-and-trade negotiations with Indiana. That deal would involve Myles Turner. However, the Celtics want T.J. Warren or Victor Oladipo, while the Pacers only want to part with Doug McDermott. The Pacers would need to work out a sign-and-trade to get Hayward given the cap situation.
Hayward declined his option with the Celtics and is clearly set on a homecoming. It makes sense after a couple difficult years in Boston, and he’s clearly soured on staying there. Ultimately, though, the Pacers are at Danny Ainge’s mercy here in trade negotiations. We will see how badly they want Hayward.
