AND NOW HE’S HOWARD THE WIZARD
Nowitzki signs with Mavs for 21st season
NBA center Dwight Howard aims for a careerfinishing run with Washington
WASHINGTON — Dwight Howard brought the charm to his introductory news conference with the Wizards on Monday. The eight-time All-Star has lots of experience in such situations. The center now playing for his fourth team in four seasons said Washington would be his last stop.
The three-time defensive player of the year is joining a Wizards team that includes All-Star guards John Wall and Bradley Beal, but he is coming off a frustrating season that ended with a first-round playoff loss to the Raptors.
Frustration is nothing new to the 6-foot-11 Howard. He’s gone from taking the Magic to the 2009 NBA Finals to joining six teams since leaving Orlando in 2012.
Washington and Howard agreed this month to a twoyear, $11 million contract with a player option for the 2019-20 season.
Howard became available after the Nets bought out his contract following a trade with the Hornets this offseason for a return of Timofey Mozgov’s contract and a pair of secondround picks. Howard averaged 16.6 points and 12.3 rebounds last season for Charlotte, averaging a double-double during each of his 14 NBA seasons.
The move came one year after the Hawks foisted Howard’s contract on the Hornets in a similarly structured trade, which followed three uninspiring seasons with the Rockets and a tumultuous campaign with Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.
“Actually, I was joking with one of my trainers earlier today,” Howard said Monday at Capital One Arena. “I thought it would be fitting. We were talking about how I started with the Magic, learned Magic for eight years. Traveled to La-La land. Learned how to work the Rockets. Went to learn how to fly with some Hawks. Got stung by the Hornets. Throughout all of that, it taught me how to be a Wizard.”
So many moves naturally lead to a negative perception of Howard’s impact on team chemistry.
“(Based on) the conversations I’ve had with him, the conversations that I’ve had with some coaches, we’re not going to have problems,” Washington coach Scott Brooks said. “I know a lot of times things are out there. Some are true, some are not. You have to focus on what (Dwight) and I have talked about going forward. He’s excited, our team is excited, our coaching staff is excited.”
The Wizards, who ranked in the middle of the league last season in opponent scoring and field goal percentage defense, decided to pursue a player they believe can help them shore up several areas.
“Someone who could be a force on the defensive end and the offensive end. Someone who is proven in this league already and someone who can be a real physical presence, which we felt like we were lacking,” team president Ernie Grunfeld said.
The 32-year-old Howard said he could imagine playing for eight more seasons, saying “I plan to be here until I retire.”
NOWITZKI: Dirk Nowitzki is officially signed for a record 21st season with the Dallas Mavericks.
The Mavericks announced Monday that they had re-signed the 13-time All-Star. That was their plan when they declined a team option on Nowitzki’s contract at the start of free agency to create more room under the salary cap before signing DeAndre Jordan.
Nowitzki, a former NBA MVP who turned 40 last month, is set to become the first player in NBA history to play 21 consecutive seasons for the same franchise. The 7-foot German is one of six players overall, and the only international player, with more than 30,000 career points.
His $5 million contract is the same amount he would have been guaranteed for 2018-19 for the second season of a two-year deal signed last summer.
BEASLEY: Michael Beasley thinks the basketball world is foolish to assume the Los Angeles Lakers’ revamped locker room will be combustible before the fuse is even lit.
The Lakers announced their signing of Beasley to a one-year contract Monday, adding the versatile forward to their new core of veterans around LeBron James.
Beasley, Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson and JaVale McGee have all joined Los Angeles this month in a slate of provocative offseason signings to supplement its talented youngsters and James, who started the parade to the West Coast when he left Cleveland for the 16-time NBA champions in free agency.
All four of these well-known, well-traveled veterans around James have varying degrees of colorful histories in their previous NBA stops, prompting widespread speculation in the media and around the league about how coach Luke Walton will manage his roster. They’ve already attracted an immediate online nickname — “The Meme Team” — while other pundits have compared them to a basketball Suicide Squad, referring to the recent DC Comics film about a misfit team of antiheroes.
Beasley thinks the entire discussion is summertime NBA nonsense.
“For there to even be a narrative (about problems with) personalities in this room is judgment enough for me, and I just don’t want to be a part of it,” Beasley said.
Heading into his 11th NBA season with his seventh franchise, Beasley knows something about locker room chemistry and the importance of professionalism. He was James’ teammate with the Miami Heat during the 2013-14 season, when they reached the NBA Finals.
TRADE: The Memphis Grizzlies have sent forward Jarell Martin and cash considerations to the Orlando Magic in exchange for center Dakari Johnson and the draft rights to Tyler Harvey.
Martin, 24, played three seasons with the Grizzlies and averaged 6.2 points, 4.0 rebounds and 18.3 minutes in 142 games. The Grizzlies took the 6-foot-10 forward from LSU with the 25th overall pick in the 2015 draft.
Orlando is trading Johnson just three days after acquiring him from the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Johnson, 22, played 31 games for the Thunder this past season. The 7-footer averaged 1.8 points, 1.1 rebounds and 5.2 minutes. The Magic selected Harvey with the 51st overall pick in the 2015 draft.