You honestly can’t make this stuff up.
Shortly after it appeared the Nets might not have to wait until July for Dwight Howard, reports flew that the Orlando center has changed his mind for a fourth time in 24 hours and told Magic officials that he would sign an early termination option (ETO) and stay in Orlando for the 2012-13 season. Real GM first reported the latest twist in a bizarre episode followed by Hoopsworld.
This came after Howard started a chronic flip flop that caused one rival executive to remark, “Even by NBA standards, it’s unbelievable.” Then he reversed himself again. That led the Magic to field trade scenarios for their superstar center with the Nets holding a prominent place, league sources said.
While that theater of the absurd was playing out before today’s 3 p.m. NBA trading deadline, the Nets found a successful formula even with Deron Williams sitting a third straight game because of a sore right calf. D-League call-up and find of the season Gerald Green scored a game-high 26 points and Kris Humphries posted his 19th double-double of the season with 16 points and 21 rebounds as the Nets stomped the Raptors, 98-84 at the Prudential Center, holding them to 38 second-half points.
So fans kept one eye the game and one eye on reports about Howard who all along has favored the Nets. His buddy, Williams — speaking about himself and avoiding all trade talk — gave reasons why the Nets are appealing after the game. Start with business opportunities
“It’s been a lot different than Utah. It’s a bigger market, a better market, we’re reaching more people,” Williams said. “A lot of the companies I’m dealing with are real excited about the move to Brooklyn.
“They see the buzz around the new arena, the fans are excited about a team coming to the borough and everybody is trying to get a head start.”
Continue with the front office. That has been a sticky point for Howard in Orlando.
“The first month I was here, I probably had more conversation with management and Coach than I did for a while in Utah,” Williams said.
So there is appeal. Now will there be Howard?
The Magic must decide by 3 p.m. whether to keep Howard, who claimed he is “all in” for an Orlando run through the playoffs this season while waffling like a hysterical child for anything beyond. Howard, sources said, told teammates he was on board for this season and would waive his ETO, a move designed to keep him in Orlando through 2012-13.
There were conflicting reports about whether Howard meant next season as well but there were multiple reports he insisted 2012-13 was part of the plan. But Howard, who asked for a trade in preseason only to later proclaim he wanted to see this season through, later changed his mind. Again.
League sources confirmed reports that Howard, in a conference call with Orlando officials who had requested documentation signed by both Howard and agent Dan Fegan by today, switched fields anew and told the Magic he would not surrender his right to opt out of the final year of his contract, worth $19.5 million.
Meanwhile, the Nets are prepared to wait until Doomsday — or at least July — to acquire one of the planet’s premier talents, hoping that Brooklyn lure with Williams and business opportunities and Mikhail Prokhorov leads to the Magic relenting on their attempts to get him to stay. If the Magic keep him beyond today — a virtual certainty if he signs — they could lose him for nothing. In a perfect Nets world, they sign him in July and keep all of their assets. Coincidentally, the Nets leave today for Orlando to play the Magic tomorrow.
The Nets want closure.
“I think a lot of teams are going to be glad [when it’s over],” coach Avery Johnson said. “When we get on the plane tomorrow to go to Orlando we’ll know a little bit more about our team, as well as a lot of teams around the NBA.”