Report: Howard not expected to return to Rockets if they hire D'Antoni
It's looking increasingly unlikely that Dwight Howard will be wearing a Houston Rockets uniform next season.
The 30-year-old center can opt out of his contract with the Rockets and become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, and while doing so wouldn't preclude his re-upping with the Rockets, the team's impending head coaching hire likely will.
The Rockets are reportedly moving toward making a formal offer for the job to Mike D'Antoni, and if he accepts, Howard is expected to sign elsewhere this summer, according to Ken Berger of CBS.
D'Antoni coached Howard during Howard's lone season with the Los Angeles Lakers, and the two did not get along, Berger reports.
Howard bolted Hollywood to sign with the Rockets at the first opportunity. He himself made a future in Houston seem like a remote possibility in a revealing interview with ESPN's Jackie MacMullan published Thursday.
"There were times I was disinterested because of situations that happened behind the scenes that really hurt me," Howard said of this past season with the Rockets. "It left me thinking, 'This is not what I signed up for.'"
Pressed to elaborate on those behind-the-scenes situations, Howard explained:
"I felt like my role was being reduced. I went to (general manager) Daryl (Morey) and said, 'I want to be more involved.' Daryl said, 'No, we don't want you to be.' My response was, 'Why not? Why am I here?' It was shocking to me that it came from him instead of our coach."
He also said he never wanted the Lakers to hire D'Antoni, who was brought on that season after Mike Brown was fired five games in.
"When they fired Mike Brown, they asked me what coach I wanted. I said, 'Phil (Jackson).' They said, 'Well, we don't know about Phil.' So they went out and got D'Antoni, and I'm thinking, 'Well I guess what I say doesn't matter.'"
Given Morey's alleged dismissal of Howard's plea for a larger role, and the team's reported courtship of D'Antoni, that doesn't appear to have changed.