Mavericks Reportedly Favorites to Land Dwight Howard If He Hits 2013 Free Agency
The Dallas Mavericks still have a chance at landing Dwight Howard.
No, Mark Cuban doesn't suddenly have the pieces in place to make a trade for the Orlando Magic superstar center. But should Dwight become a free agent when scheduled (summer of 2013), the Mavs might just be the last team standing.
The news comes from Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski:
"If Howard gets to free agency in '13 without having been traded to Nets or Lakers, Dallas is overwhelming favorite to sign him, sources say.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 26, 2012"
Let's take a closer look at this development.
What It Means
This doesn't come as a major shock. All along, the major candidates to land Howard for the long term have been the Nets, Lakers and Mavericks.
The Nets, after trading for Joe Johnson, re-signing Deron Williams and giving Brook Lopez a max contract, clearly don't have room under the salary cap to sign Dwight.
While Howard has recently stated he would re-sign with the Lakers, it's unclear what Los Angeles' cap will look like next year with Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant and possibly Andrew Bynum, who also becomes a free agent next summer.
By process of elimination, that leaves the Mavericks, who missed out on Deron Williams and have signed a bunch of veterans and O.J. Mayo on the cheap this offseason, as the clear favorites.
What's Next
Well, Mavericks fans probably shouldn't get their hopes up.
This is the Dwight Howard saga we are talking about. If he isn't rumored to be traded to 10 other teams—teams with which he would re-sign—in the next month, I'd be surprised.
This is a situation that changes daily, so calling the Mavericks the favorites to land Howard in 11 months is far from a sure thing.
Still, though, it's fun to play the "what if?" game. A frontcourt of Dirk Nowitzki and Dwight Howard, along with the exciting, young players they have in place and whatever magic Cuban could pull next offseason, would make for a scary good team.
Remember how many open looks Howard opened up for Ryan Anderson? Can you imagine what Dirk would do with those shots?
Yikes.
