Magic Reportedly Didn’t Want to Trade Dwight Howard to Atlanta Hawks

The Atlanta Hawks placed several calls to the Orlando Magic inquiring about then-available superstar center Dwight Howard, but according to Hawks GM Danny Ferry, Orlando wouldn’t consider any trades involving Atlanta because the Magic didn’t want to deal Howard within the Southeast Division. The Atlanta Journal Constitution has the details: “Ferry approached the Orlando Magic about a trade for Howard in early July but was turned down. He never had the opportunity to share his vision with Howard and try to convince him that the dysfunction that Howard (an Atlanta native) was familiar with was a thing of the past. It never even got as far as being in position to convince Howard to sign an extension. ‘We had discussions with Orlando about Dwight Howard,’ Ferry said. ‘They were apprehensive to trade him within the division.’ That may seem to hard to fathom. Logically, the Magic should’ve been more concerned about acquiring strong assets for Howard than him playing for another Southeast Division team. But given the dumpster full of unspectacular players, bad contracts and lottery-protected draft picks the Magic ended up with in the four-player trade, maybe it’s not so hard to believe. If Ferry was willing to take a calculated risk, without blowing up the team’s roster to get Howard, good for him. It shows aggressiveness and creativity. We’ll see where that takes him, and them.”