Rumor: Dwight Howard to stay in ORL?

[RAcker]

Well, at least he's no going to the Lakers.  And also, it means we don't have to keep seeing these ridiculous Howard to Celtics posts.

On the other hand -- really, really dumb move by Dwight Howard.

I agree...especially with the last sentence.  TP

[slamtheking]

I'm curious what they spent the weekend negotiating.  The years and contract value are capped by the CBA (2 years, max salary), and there's already a uniform player contract dealing with most other provisions.  What's left?  Payout structure? 

That's probably my own ignorance of the intricacies of player contracts, but I can't imagine something like this would take a full weekend to negotiate.  More like his agent and the team sent a couple emails back-and-forth, I wold imagine.

Roy, if i were a guessing man, which i am, i would guess that DH12 is also talking about management about their future plans. I think it's obvious this guy wants to play for a winner (or at least, a team that has potential to win) and i do think he's loyal in the sense that if Orlando had a plan, he would give them the first crack at resigning him.

So maybe what had happened was they "negotiated" the contract while also talking about the general direction the team was going, which is an integral part in making Dwight agree to the extension. Because right now, Orlando looks pretty lost since their cap space is all tied down to Turkoglu, Arenas and JRich (or something like that).

if there's truth to the story this would seem like a plausible explanation.  

just to keep spinning conspiracy theories, maybe he's signing for 2 years to get past the uncertainties of the new CBA AND also to get him past the expiration date of PP's contract so he can sign with the C's  

[GUY]

I really don't think it changes much to be honest.  I never believed Howard was going to reach free agency to begin with. I think Howard still wants to go to a bigger market and he realizes he can make that happen via trade. 

2 more years in Orlando?  Big deal.  The Magic are on the decline, and as soon as they really start to struggle then he wont look like such a bad guy if he asks for a trade.  And if they exceed expectations, well then he can tough it out and stay in the smaller market in order to be on a winning team.

At this point, I really don't think this 2 year extension is proof that he wants to do things any different from what I had thought all along, and that is to get out of Orlando and go to a bigger market/better team.

[pearljammer10]

Only two years?

[Jon]

This is really quite possible. 

First of all, if Howard signs an extension now, he could potentially (depending on the new CBA) stand to make tens of millions more than if he waits to sign with another team.

Second, even if he does wait, the new CBA may have some sort of Franchise Tag, or even if it doesn't, it may even more heavily favor players staying with their current teams. 

Third, even if that doesn't happen, the cap may be lowered so much that teams that thought they were going to have money (like us) may not have as much as we thought. 

In either case, Howard could be turning down tens of millions of dollars by walking away from the Magic.  So I wouldn't be surprised to see him stay in Orlando.