NBA trade grades: Hornets will deal Dwight Howard to Nets

The Charlotte Hornets have agreed to trade Dwight Howard to the Brooklyn Nets for Timofey Mozgov and two second round picks. Here are NBA Trade Grades for both sides.

With the 2018 NBA Draft only a day away, the trade activity has begun.

As first reported by ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Charlotte Hornets have agreed to send Dwight Howard to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Timofey Mozgov and two second round draft picks.

The first is Charlotte’s second round pick in this year’s draft, which comes in at No. 45, while the other is a 2021 second-rounder.

The Hornets are in a delicate place, with a ton of bad contracts on their roster and a bona fide star in Kemba Walker who will be an unrestricted free agent next summer. The Nets, meanwhile, are looking to start taking steps forward in their rebuild despite the bare cupboard general manager Sean Marks inherited.

As Woj notes, the deal cannot be officially completed until July 6, when the moratorium ends and enough expiring money clears from Brooklyn’s salary cap sheet to make room for Howard’s contract.

The question is, what does this non-blockbuster trade mean for both sides? How did new Hornets GM Mitch Kupchak do in his first major move for the franchise, and what does Howard’s arrival mean for Brooklyn?

To sort it out, here are NBA Trade Grades for both sides.