During his exit interview at the end of the postseason, Dwight Howard stated that he intended to take his time to make his final decision on where he will play next season. So far, Howard hasn’t strayed from that train of thought.
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When CBS’ Ken Berger reported on Sunday that Howard was intrigued by the Rockets and Mavericks, there was an interesting bit of information at the end of the article that might intrigue other Laker fans. Despite the team’s desire to know Howard’s decision sooner rather than later, so they know what pieces they need to pursue with the rest of their off-season, Howard doesn’t seem too interested in speeding up his process.
With the Lakers hoping for a swift decision from Dwight Howard on his free agency this summer, the All-Star center has given no indication he will rush the process and has privately indicated that he plans to give strong consideration to multiple teams.
As Berger indicated, two of those teams are the Mavericks and Rockets, both of which reportedly intrigue Howard for various reasons. Still, according to his sources close to Dwight, that will most likely only prolong the entire process.
One of the people briefed on Howard’s plans stressed that no decision has been made on his impending free agency. But with so many options available and issues in play, Howard doesn’t seem to be on track for the kind of quick decision the Lakers were hoping for so they’d have time to plan their offseason.
Obviously this is Howard’s prerogative as a free agent, but it won’t do a whole lot of good in establishing a good relationship between him and the Lakers, assuming he does re-sign with them this summer. Still, Dwight doesn’t officially become a free agent until July 1, but if he’s unable or unwilling to inform the team on where he’s leaning, Mitch Kupchak and company will most likely be increasingly frustrated with the situation.
In the end this isn’t much of a surprise, as it’s what we’ve expected from Howard since the initial trade to Los Angeles was completed last summer, but these latest reports from Berger and his sources seem to indicate that we could be in for yet another long, hot summer of Dwight Howard rumors.
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