* Tonight on NBA League Pass: Hornets vs. Timberwolves (8 ET)
Dwight Howard’s value to the Charlotte Hornets has been on full display during the early stage of this season. It makes all of the eye-rolling from around the basketball world when the Hornets traded for him over the summer seem a bit premature. Howard’s made an impact for a Hornets team that is clearly improved and one of the better outfits in the Eastern Conference heading into tonight’s road showdown against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Time will tell if Howard can sustain his current level of production. Those closest to the Hornets don’t necessarily need to wait to start assessing whether or not Howard is the franchise’s best acquisition … ever. That’s tall grass that Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer is happy to wade through in his examination of Howard’s fit in Charlotte:
So far, Howard has been spectacular. […] He played more than 32,000 NBA minutes prior to this season, but there is nothing about how he’s performing to suggest he’s slowing down.
In fact, if he can maintain those numbers and the Hornets have a winning record the first half of the season, Howard could be selected for the All-Star Game (in Los Angeles in February) for the first time since 2014, when Howard was a Houston Rocket.
No trade can be evaluated strictly by what a team receives; what that team gives up is just as relevant. For instance, the Hornets acquired one of the better players in franchise history, small forward Glen Rice, in 1995. But to do so, they gave up arguably the best player in franchise history in center Mourning.
A big part of why Howard could be the best trade in franchise history is the Hornets gave up very little to the Atlanta Hawks. Marco Belinelli was a solid reserve last season. The other player sent to Atlanta was big man Miles Plumlee, who did next to nothing for the Hornets last season. Worse yet, Plumlee’s contract guarantees him $12.4 million this season, and the same sum each of the next two.
Howard is expensive at $23.5 million this season and next, but the Hornets needed his rim protection and his rebounding. Any scoring he provides is a bonus.
