D'Antoni hire raises questions about Howard's future in Houston
The Houston Rockets knew the consequences of hiring Mike D'Antoni as their head coach.
Put aside the X's and O's. D'Antoni carries a long history of breathtaking offenses and iffy defenses - a style that should fit James Harden perfectly. The bigger question of the D'Antoni hire points to the elephant in the room.
Dwight Howard and D'Antoni have history. A lot of history. Howard could opt out of the final year of his contract. Does hiring D'Antoni mean the Rockets plan to move forward without their star center? Are they trying to force him out?
Related: Howard not expected to return to Rockets if they hire D'Antoni
Howard and D'Antoni crossed paths during a tumultuous season with the Los Angeles Lakers back in 2012. Having assembled four all-stars, hope was never higher in La La Land. But the Lakers were a massive flop in part because the star coach and their superstar pivot couldn't get on the same page. Howard left for Houston the summer thereafter.
After Howard left, Lakers executive Jeanie Buss explained the rift with D'Antoni divided the team.
"It came down to hiring a coach," Buss told ESPN. "When you have a big man and a guard, you have to decide whom you're going to build your team around. The choice was to build it around Steve Nash and what suited Steve Nash instead of what suited Dwight Howard."
The Lakers ran their offense through Nash and Kobe Bryant instead of spoonfeeding post-ups to Howard, and that upset the big man, who thought the offense should run through him.
Any of that sound familiar?
As fate would have it, a similar situation has unfolded in Houston. Howard and Harden were billed as a lethal 1-2 combination, but after three unhappy years of the experiment, both players wanted each other traded. Harden took the lion's share of shots while leaving Howard to feed off scraps.
Publicly, Harden said he loves having Howard around and wants him to stay, but their body language toward one another tells a different story.
Howard, again, complained to management about his role, but, as he explained to ESPN, general manager Daryl Morey gave him a rude response.
"I felt like my role was being reduced. I went to Daryl 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."
Morey was blunt with his words. His actions have been even more direct. After desperately shopping Howard at the trade deadline, and now with his hiring of D'Antoni, it's clear that the Rockets want Howard to leave.
But ultimately, the decision to stay put and to collect $23 million stays with Howard, and he's shown a history of curious opt-ins - just ask the Orlando Magic.