NBA Trade Grades: Hornets acquire Dwight Howard from Hawks

Atlanta Hawks

For the Atlanta Hawks, this deal really boils down to one objective, pure and simple: Getting Dwight Howard’s contract off the books.

It appears as though new general manager Travis Schlenk didn’t want to waste any time in shipping off a deadweight contract that was spun as a hometown hero’s triumphant return to the ATL less than a year ago.

After signing D-12 to a three-year, $70.5 million deal last summer, Howard had a bit of an up-and-down year in Atlanta, to put it kindly. His numbers dropped to 13.5 points (the lowest scoring output since his rookie year), 12.7 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game (the lowest output of his career).

His effort waned and in an infamous exit interview, he sounded off on his lack of minutes in the playoffs, leaving many wondering if his time back home would be over after only a year.

A few months and a few comments about adding a three-point shot to his game later, Howard is being unceremoniously shipped off to Charlotte for a truly underwhelming return.

At 31 years old, Howard’s athleticism and ability to help a winning team are clearly on the decline. The Hawks had the fourth-best defense in the NBA with him in the middle, but as the team looks to rebuild, this lackluster package might have to do.

At the very least, Atlanta created a small trade exception with this move.

The Hawks will clear out a little more than $4 million in cap space by getting rid of Howard’s contract, though it’s worth noting he only had two years left on his deal, as opposed to Plumlee’s remaining three years.

As ESPN‘s Zach Lowe points out, the free agencies of Paul Millsap and Tim Hardaway Jr. will all but negate that short-term cap relief if the Hawks look to re-sign them.

It sounds like a definite possibility Millsap receives better offers elsewhere, but with three years and $37.5 million left on Plumlee’s contract, it’s not like the Hawks are getting that much relief here. They still had to take on one of the NBA’s worst contracts to make this happen.

Belinelli will provide three-point shooting (36 percent last year), but even after a bounce-back season in Charlotte, the 31-year-old veteran will only be on the roster for a year before he and his $6.6 million salary hit free agency in 2018.

Combine that with trading down 10 spots in this year’s draft and it’s hard to get excited here, even from a salary/personnel dump standpoint. The Hawks didn’t have to attach any assets to move him, which is a positive, and they have a good chance to land a young center with this year’s No. 19 overall pick, but nothing more than a passing grade seems appropriate.

Grade: C