As many NBA fans know by now the Houston Rockets have been a huge disappointment so far this season as they are just 12-14 and barely hanging on to a playoff spot in a surprisingly down Western Conference. The Rockets have already fired their head coach and seemed to get back on track after doing so but they still aren't right as they haven't hit their stride. One of the big reasons for the disappointment has been the play of Dwight Howard who is getting paid like a star but not exactly playing like one and now it is being reported that he is unhappy in Houston, according to Chris Sheridan of Sheridan Hoops.
Howard has since come out and said that there is no truth to this report saying "I haven't said anything to anybody about anything. People make up lies and rumors. That's never been my focus. I'm trying to get these guys to play better and get myself to play better," according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, but the reality is that Howard has been unhappy before and demanded trades so this wouldn't be a surprise if it was true.
Howard demanded a trade at the end of his tenure with the Orlando Magic and was unhappy with the Los Angeles Lakers because he didn't mesh well with Kobe Bryant. Now Howard reportedly doesn't like his role with the Rockets as he has taken the sixth most shots on the team behind guys like Corey Brewer and Terrence Jones and Sheridan believes the Rockets will look to trade him at some point this season.
The team brought up as a potential trade partner has been the Miami Heat because they have Hassan Whiteside. Howard's contract situation is that he has one year left on his deal at more than $23 million but that is a player option so it is possible, and maybe likely, that he will opt out of that final year. Whiteside, on the other hand, is set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason and is due for a monster pay raise likely at the max but the Heat won't be able to afford that so Pat Riley might be looking to get something of value for him while he still can.
The issue with a trade like this for Miami is that right now Whiteside is the much better player of the two and the Heat are a team that thinks they can compete with the Cleveland Cavaliers for an Eastern Conference championship this season. On top of that it has been reported that the Heat are not shopping Whiteside right now, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel, but that could just be window dressing.
In his report Sheridan went as far as predicting that Howard would end up wearing a Heat uniform at some point this year. The trade doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense for the Heat considering Whiteside is the better player and Howard is likely going to opt out of the final year of his deal to become a free agent this offseason as well. The only way the Heat would even consider this trade would be if they thought they could retain Howard but if they don't have the money for Whiteside they likely won't have the money for Howard either.
