Say what you will about LeBron James and the infamous “Decision,” but the Dwight Howard saga in Orlando has to be the ugliest soon-to-be free agent superstar situation we have seen in the NBA in recent history. Since the beginning of the season, Howard has changed his mind more than an 18-year-old girl picking out her prom dress. Before the season began, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Howard would be dealt by the deadline. The deadline came and went and not only was Superman still in Orlando, but he promised to stay there until at least the end of the 2012-2013 season. My how things have changed in a hurry.
A couple of weeks ago, Stan Van Gundy told reporters he knows Howard asked the Magic front office to fire him, only to have Howard embarrass himself by coming on camera and acting all buddy-buddy with his coach. After that, we heard rumors that Dwight only stayed with the Magic to avoid being traded to the Lakers. Over the weekend, Stephen A. Smith reported on Sportscenter that Howard is once again furious with the Magic and will demand a trade this offseason.
“The minute this season is over, according to what I am hearing from his camp, you can expect Dwight Howard to tell Orlando,” Smith said on Sportscenter according to I Am a GM. “‘Get me out of here. I don’t want to be here any longer.’ You’ve got Stan Van Gundy annoyed with the organization. You’ve got Dwight Howard disgusted with the organization. The way he’s been treated, along with the way his teammates have been AWOL on him as far as he’s concerned. You’ve got a problem.
“Not to mention the fact, there’s one other little Cliff Note that you might find interesting. When he had his back surgery, they were talking about giving him a flight on AirTran or something like that. This is the kind of stuff that I’ve been told in the last 24 hours in terms of how they’ve treated him. He feels as a superstar, he’s been treated as a scrub.”
Whether you choose to believe anything Stephen A. Smith says is your own decision, but I think we can all agree that the way Howard has flip-flopped over the past few months is an embarrassment to him and the Magic organization. At this point it’s obvious they would have been better off dealing him at the deadline and taking whatever they got.
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