The Charlotte Hornets have acquired Dwight Howard and pick #31 in Thursday’s draft from the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Miles Plumlee, Marco Belinelli, and pick #41 in Thursday’s draft, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reports.
This move surprises many, as the Hawks landed the three-time defensive player of the year in free agency just last summer. Earlier today, Howard appeared on Atlanta Sports Radio’s “The Midday Show” and expressed how bad he wanted his hometown team to compete for a championship:
“I really want this team to compete with the Golden State’s and and the Cleveland Cavaliers and have an opportunity to win a championship, and that’s one of the things that is very important to me is winning a championship . I watched the Falcons get close. The Braves, I saw them win with Fred McGriff back in the day. And like man, what if the Hawks won a championship? How big that would be just for the city”, Howard said.
Playing in 74 games (all starts) this season for Atlanta, Howard averaged 13.5 points, 12.7 rebounds and 1.2 blocks across 29.7 minutes per game. The blocks number is a career-low for Howard, but he will no doubt be the man in the middle for Charlotte, his fourth NBA team in the last six seasons.
Despite Howard’s passion for Atlanta, the Hawks clearly had other intentions. This move clears a lot of cap space to pave the way for a possible big free agent signing and the ability to re-sign PF Paul Millsap this offseason.
The Hawks receive C Miles Plumlee and SG Marco Belinelli in the deal, two average players who have spent time in several NBA cities. Belinelli averaged 10.5 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game off the bench this season for Charlotte, while Plumlee averaged just 2.5 points and 2.1 rebounds per contest while splitting time with Milwaukee and Charlotte.
