Atlanta Hawks Agree To 3-Year, $70.5 Million Contract With Dwight Howard

The Atlanta Hawks have agreed to a three-year, $70.5 million deal with Dwight Howard, but what does that mean for their free agency?

With Al Horford exploring unrestricted free agency and a number of promising suitors — including the Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics — readying their offers, the Atlanta Hawks decided not to sit back on their heels and made a ballsy move for some insurance at the center spot.

As first reported by The Vertical’s Shams Charania, Dwight Howard is returning to his hometown of Atlanta, and believe it or not, a three-year, $70.5 million contract is actually great value for one of free agency’s most underrated prospects.

At this point, most people’s opinions about Dwight Howard are like most people’s opinions about Donald Trump — their minds are made up already, nothing anyone says will ever change it, but most everybody can admit the guy can be a bit of an ass.

That being said, Howard’s reputation of being “soft” (the guy played through a severe shoulder injury when Lakers fans bashed him for not being more like Kobe Bryant) or “washed up” (he was still the Rockets’ second best player last year) has been blown so far out of proportion that he rapidly became one of the most underrated free agents on the market this summer.

When Howard opted out of the final $23.2 million of his contract in Houston, many assumed it was because he wanted a massive pay raise starting in the $30 million range.

After all, it was only natural for the 30-year-old center to want to cash in on what might be his final major contract, especially with the NBA salary cap leaping to a projected $94 million.

But with this deal, which will pay him $23.3 million per year, the Hawks are only giving him the tiniest of increases in salary. Given how much more he could’ve made if a team had been willing to fork over a max deal, this is pretty solid value for Atlanta.

So what are the Hawks getting? Typically speaking, a 30-year-old center with history of back and shoulder problems is not a good sign, but in this market, don’t go thinking this is some kind of drastic overpay.

Two years from now, when the cap skyrockets as high as a projected $110 million, Howard’s annual salary will only take up 21.2 percent of Atlanta’s cap room. That’s basically the equivalent of a $14.8 million contract under last year’s $70 million cap.

Last season in Houston, D-12 averaged 13.7 points, 11.8 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game on 62 percent shooting. Though his scoring numbers were the lowest they’d been since his rookie season in 2004-05, Howard was almost entirely phased out of the Rockets’ offense under J.B. Bickerstaff. Still, he managed to play 71 games and post a career high in field goal percentage.

With the Hawks, D-12 will probably serve a similarly limited role in the offense, especially if the front office’s plan is to re-sign Al Horford and not trade Paul Millsap.

UPDATE: According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, the Hawks have agreed to re-sign Kent Bazemore to a four-year, $70 million extension, effectively ending Al Horford’s time in Atlanta since they no longer have enough cap space to re-sign him.

Horford and Millsap can spread the floor, which could create a poor man’s version of Howard’s most successful teams in Orlando, when the Magic flanked their star center with four shooters on the perimeter.

Unfortunately for D-12, it’s highly unlikely the Hawks change their three-point heavy attack plan to allow Howard to many of those inefficient, plodding post-ups that he used to love demanding earlier in his career.

There are some obvious questions that need answering with this deal, however. With Horford entertaining other teams’ offers and hearing their free agency pitches, is this merely a move to provide insurance?

In the event Horford decides he wants to remain in Atlanta where he’s spent his entire NBA career, can he play alongside Howard at the 4? And even if he can, are the Hawks pressing their luck trying to play Millsap at the 3, or would the plan be to trade him for help on the perimeter?

Last season, the Hawks were one of the league’s worst rebounding teams, ranking 28th in the NBA in rebounding percentage. The arrival of Dwight Howard clearly addresses that issue, providing the Hawks’ already stout defense with a quality interior defender and rim deterrent.

That being said, this deal likely means that Horford is gone, even if they Hawks can fit both into their salary cap situation. Horford would be a much better fit with more promising nuclei in Boston, Oklahoma City or Golden State, and perhaps he is ready for a change of scenery if the Hawks are still unwilling to offer him that fifth year on a potential extension.

If that’s the case, Millsap can continue to play the 4 alongside a superior rebounder, even if Howard is no longer as good an overall defender as Horford. At least this way the Hawks wouldn’t be dealing with a Detroit Pistons-esque frontcourt from their days of running Josh Smith, Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond on the court together.

This is a bit of a gamble, and a year from now we might look back on this deal and wonder how anyone thought it could work. But D-12 also got an unfair rep in Houston (and especially Los Angeles) and still has something to offer an NBA team that wishes to be competitive.

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Now it’s a matter of seeing how the Hawks approach the unrestricted free agencies of Horford and small forward Kent Bazemore. Considering the deals that are being handed out to guys like Timofey Mozgov and Pau Gasol, the Hawks could’ve done much worse than Howard, especially at such a reasonable price.