Sources: Dwight Howard expected to finalize buyout with Nets, enter free agency

Shams Charania
Dwight Howard was traded to the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday. (Getty)
Dwight Howard was traded to the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday. (Getty)

After being traded to the Brooklyn Nets, eight-time NBA All-Star Dwight Howard is expected to finalize a buyout with the franchise and enter free agency in July, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

The Charlotte Hornets traded Howard to the Nets for center Timofey Mozgov, two second-round draft picks and cash considerations. Howard and the Nets have an understanding of completing the buyout once the league’s free-agent moratorium ends July 6, league sources said.

Howard would emerge as one of the top center options in free agency.

Howard, 32, has one year remaining on the three-year, $70.5 million deal he signed with the Atlanta Hawks in 2016. Atlanta traded Howard and a second-round pick to Charlotte in 2017 for Marco Belinelli, Miles Plumlee and a second-round draft pick.

The eight-time All-Star and three-time Defensive Player of the Year has averaged 17.4 points, 12.7 rebounds and two blocks in his 14-year career.

Howard had back surgery in 2012 and has struggled to recapture the form and explosiveness he exhibited in the first half of his career.

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