Better late than never? It looks like that’s the mantra the Dallas Mavericks are going for with the impending free agency of Rockets center Dwight Howard.
According to a report by Tim MacMahon of ESPN on Wednesday, the Mavericks are interested in signing Howard this summer “dependent on the price.” MacMahon states that the team does not plan to be in on the bidding for the eight-time All-Star should he command a price in the range of a max contract (which would reportedly have a starting salary around $30 million).
Howard, 30, is averaging 13.8 points per game, 11.8 rebounds per game, and 1.6 blocks per game for the Rockets this season. But those numbers don’t tell the whole story as Howard has increasingly become an afterthought on offense in Houston, averaging just 7.7 field goal attempts per game since the All-Star break.
The three-time Defensive Player of the Year hasn’t looked like a max-level talent for a while now as pervasive durability questions have plagued him as he has gotten older. That combined with his perceived character issues and his knack for seeming to be constantly disgruntled in whatever situation he’s currently in may be leading the Mavericks and other teams that Howard is not worth major money.
The Mavericks, of course, attempted to court Howard as a free agent in 2013, but ultimately lost out to their intrastate rivals. While Dallas, who offered Howard a max contract that summer, may not be as generous this time around, but the interest could still very much be there. The Mavericks’ longing for an athletic center led to the DeAndre Jordan debacle last year, and forward Chandler Parsons, Howard’s former teammate in Houston, already successfully recruited him to Texas once.
Should the price be right for Mark Cuban and Company, they still won’t be without competitors for Howard’s talents (or at least whatever’s left of them). But don’t count them out, especially given their desire to surround Dirk Nowitzki with a contending team in the final years of his NBA career.
