Howard on failed 2012 trade to Nets: 'Would have been the best move'

Dwight Howard was nearly a Brooklyn Net back in 2012, when the Orlando Magic put the superstar center on the trading block. Two-and-a-half years later, he is still thinking about what would have been.

Howard was ultimately dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers as part of a four-team trade, kicking off an ill-fated one-year experiment that saw him bolt for the Houston Rockets as a free agent in the summer of 2013. Had Howard been dealt to Brooklyn, where general manager Billy King was working hard to acquire him, he thinks it would have been a better situation than L.A.

"It's something that, at the time, would have been the best move," Howard said Monday. "But everything happens for a reason. I was looking forward to one day being in Brooklyn at the time, but I found a great home in Houston, our team is playing exceptionally well, and we have a great opportunity to do something special."

Monday marked Howard's first visit to Barclays Center due to injuries over the past couple of seasons. It ended with a victory, but not before some serious dramatics took place, and the Brooklyn crowd booed him.

The deal-breaker for a move to the Nets was Howard signing a waiver that stated he wouldn't opt out of the final year of his contract, which made the market for his services broader and allowed the Magic to deal him in the summer of 2012 instead of at the 2011-12 deadline. 

Unable to sign him as a free agent in 2012 or work out a trade, the Nets instead re-signed center Brook Lopez, while also re-signing Deron Williams and acquiring Joe Johnson.

Howard took a circuitous route to find a good situation, but he's right that he has just that in Houston. Things haven't worked out quite as well for the Nets.