The Dwight Howard trade
To kick off the offseason for the Hornets, the team kicked Dwight Howard out of its locker room. It was a big move statistically as Howard was second on the team in points per game and was easily the top rebounder on the team with 1,012 total rebounds.
In the end though, it was decided the team chemistry might be better off without D-12 and Kupchak dealt him to the Brooklyn Nets for Timofey Mozgov, $5 million and second round draft picks in 2018 and 2021. The 2018 second round draft pick ended up being Hamidou Diallo, but ended up getting traded immediately to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a 2019 second round pick and cash.
Mozgov was the headline of the return for the Hornets, but for the wrong reasons. His contract was cheaper on a yearly basis than Howard’s, but the Hornets would be on the hook for a second year of $16 million as well, while Howard had an expiring contract. On the court, Mozgov has never posted double-digit points per game in a full season and his career high for rebounds is 7.3 per game.
At the time the move was made more for financial and locker room reasons than basketball reasons. But with Mozgov now out of the picture, which we’ll touch on soon, the trade is starting to look a little better.
Grade: B