Dwight Howard’s tenure with the Washington Wizards has been disastrous. The aging center has been limited to nine games due to a back injury that required surgery in November. Initially diagnosed to be out two-to-three months, Howard has yet to return to the court and the Wizards have already been eliminated from playoff contention.
Longtime team president Ernie Grunfeld was fired Tuesday after 16 seasons. The Wizards had a multitude of issues that led to Grunfeld’s dismissal, however, there’s no doubt Howard’s disappointing signing had a strong correlation. It’s not the first time Howard has joined a team only for the GM to later be fired.
In fact, the sequence is becoming a pattern. Since 2016, Howard has played with three separate teams — the Atlanta Hawks (2016-17), Charlotte Hornets (2017-18), and the Wizards (2018-19). In each stop, the GM has been fired by season’s end.
Atlanta Hawks
Mike Budenholzer served as head coach and GM with the Hawks when he signed Howard in the summer of 2016. However, after a disappointing 43-win season and first-round exit in the playoffs to the Wizards, the GM role was stripped from Budenholzer. Howard capped his one season in Atlanta with a disappointing showing in their playoff series against the Wizards in which he was limited to 8.0 per game — the lowest mark of his playoff career.
Charlotte Hornets
New Hawks GM Travis Schlenk traded Howard to the Hornets less than a month on the job. Howard played in 81 games for Charlotte and while he averaged a strong 16.6 points and 12.5 rebounds, the Hornets failed to make postseason. Longtime GM Rich Cho was fired by owner Michael Jordan that April.
Howard was dumped in a trade to the Brooklyn Nets by new GM Mitch Kupchak. Howard was later bought out by the Nets, allowing him to sign a two-year deal the Wizards, which includes a player option for the second season.
Wizards
Grunfeld’s time was waning with the Wizards after the team failed to advance past the second-round of the playoffs through a strong four-year span behind the core of John Wall, Bradley Beal, and Otto Porter.
Wall had his season cut short after 32 games with surgery on his heel that he later ruptured in a freak accident in his shower, pushing his return to an additional 12 months. With Wall and Howard on the shelf, the Wizards began the process of retooling the roster in a last ditch effort to make the postseason. Porter and Kelly Oubre were traded in separate moves, to no avail, as the Wizards will fail to win at least 41 games for the first since 2012-13 and miss the playoffs.
Grunfeld is now out and the Wizards are set to conduct an intensive search for his replacement. For Howard, he will get to consider his options that include testing free agency or the more likely opting into his second year of his deal with the Wizards that will account for $5.6 million next season.
Nonetheless, signing Howard has served as a nail in the coffin for the last three GMs that have done so.
