Howard 'annoyed' by speculation about 2012 free agency

By SAM GARDNER
FOXSportsFlorida.com Magic writer
Feb. 8, 2011

ORLANDO, Fla. – Rumors have been swirling during recent weeks about Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard and his pending free agency in the summer of 2012.

After increasing speculation that the five-time All-Star would end up pretty much anywhere but Orlando after his contract ends next season, Howard finally took to Twitter on Monday to defend himself, sending the following Twitter message to a fan:

"I never said I wanted to leave stop reading the rumors It's really stupid. And annoying to be honest. They tryna make something outta nothing I have another yr under my contract before I can sign."

At Tuesday's shootaround before Orlando's game against the Los Angeles Clippers, Howard expounded on his tweet.

"I am annoyed," Howard said. "I can't sign a contract this year. I can't sign it anywhere this summer, so why keep bringing it up? Why are people talking about me going any other place right now?"

Howard's current contract runs through the 2012-13 season – he would be set to make $19,536,360 in the final year of his deal should he stay for the duration of it – but he is expected to use his early termination option to test the market a year early.

There have been multiple published reports that have cited unnamed sources who say Howard wants to move to a bigger market, perhaps in Los Angeles, New York or even Brooklyn after the Nets make the move from Newark.

"Right now, it's about this season," Howard said. "It's not about L.A., New York or wherever. I'm really tired of it. I don't want to be talking about where am I playing basketball."

Howard says the speculation has even impacted his personal life, with fans stopping him – and tweeting him – to ask about his future. Many people in Orlando are still feeling the effects of Shaquille O'Neal's departure in the summer of 1996.

At the time, Shaq described living in Orlando as feeling "like a big fish in a dried-up pond," and some think the glitz and glam of Los Angeles or New York may be too much for Howard to turn down.

"People in Orlando are asking me, ‘Are you going to leave?' " Howard said. "I never said anything about leaving; I never said anything about me not being happy here; I never said anything about 'doing a LeBron,' as people say on Twitter.

"I want to play basketball. I want to help this team win a championship."

Magic President of Basketball Operations Otis Smith has said he plans to offer Howard a contract extension this summer, bit it remains to be seen is whether it's still this team Howard will want to help come 2012.

It's easy to see how Howard could be a target for such speculation, given all of the attention LeBron James received when he was a free agent last summer and all of the focus that has been placed on Denver's Carmelo Anthony this season.

"That's Carmelo and LeBron," Howard said. "It has nothing to do with Dwight Howard. When we get down the road to 2012, whenever it's time for me to sign, then we can talk about that stuff. For now, I don't want to be talking about it. There's no reason for us to bring up what's going to happen in the future, because we can't go to the future right now."

For now, he just wants to talk about the task at hand.

"I think about tonight's game and what we have to do to win a championship," Howard said, "and that's the only thing on my mind."

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