Nearly four years have passed since the time when Dwight Howard was putting the fans and media through his first ever “Dwightmare,” meaning many forgot all the drama that surrounded that situation. But JJ Redick recently revealed just how bad things got.
Redick, who was a teammate of Howard in Orlando, shared on The Vertical Podcast with Adrian Wojnarowski that Howard told his teammates before the 2011-2012 season that he was traded to the Nets.
“There was a deal on the table right before the season started, right after the lockout ended, for [Dwight Howard] to go to Brooklyn. I can remember being in the shower after practice, one of the first practices of the season, and him saying ‘I love you guys, I’m headed to Brooklyn, trade is going down later tonight.’ And I’m on Twitter, I’m on HoopsHype, you know for 24 hours, like ‘When this is going down?’ And it didn’t go down. And I think for the rest of the season there was an underlying resentment because of that,” Redick told Woj.
If you recall, Howard had an early termination option he could exercise while with the Orlando Magic in 2012 that could have made him a free agent. Because he had the power to become a free agent, there was chatter Orlando might trade him in order to get something in return for him rather than lose him to another team for nothing. All season long there was speculation that Howard might be traded, but nothing materialized. Instead, Howard waived the early termination right (reportedly in order to not be traded to the Lakers) and he finished the season in Orlando.
Despite all the talk about Howard going to the Nets and wanting to be traded to Brooklyn, it never happened. Howard was eventually traded to the Lakers, but that wasn’t until August. And then he put them through the second “Dwightmare” when he wouldn’t commit to them and instead eventually signed with the Rockets in free agency.
This really is eye-opening. Can you imagine trying to play a whole season when your star player has told you he has been traded, but the deal never goes through? How can you develop any continuity that way? It’s no surprise that season marked the end of an era for Orlando. Howard left, Stan Van Gundy was fired, and in time even Redick left.
Hearing a story like this really shows us how wild things are behind the scenes at times.
H/T Hoops Hype
