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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