Dwight Howard is going home.
The Atlanta Hawks agreed to a three-year, $70.5-million deal with the free-agent center and Atlanta native, The Vertical's Shams Charania reports.
The deal is fully guaranteed and carries no options for either side, according to The Undefeated's Marc J. Spears.
The Hawks' nominal center, Al Horford, is also an unrestricted free agent, so Howard's arrival could spell the end of Horford's nine-year tenure in Atlanta. He's reportedly being targeted by teams ranging from the Boston Celtics to the Washington Wizards to the Houston Rockets to the Oklahoma City Thunder, and that's likely just the tip of the iceberg.
Howard saw a decline in production in each of his last two seasons with the Rockets, but the 30-year-old remained one of the game's best two-way centers. He averaged 13.7 points, 11.8 rebounds, 1.6 blocks, and one steal this year, while shooting a career-best 62 percent from the field.
He also seemed to be at or near the center of all the bad juju that dragged the Rockets' once-hopeful season down into the muck. There were reports that Howard was unhappy in Houston as far back as December. He publicly griped about touches, and his relationship with star shooting guard James Harden never seemed to be on solid footing. Harden reportedly pushed for the Rockets to trade Howard, and they reportedly tried aggressively to do so at the trade deadline.
With Howard's new deal on their books, the Hawks have just $1 million of cap space remaining, though they'll have some $19 million if they renounce Horford and shed his cap hold.
