The Brooklyn Nets have reportedly agreed to acquire Dwight Howard from the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for Timofey Mozgov two days after the 31-year-old Russian big man said he reached a “breaking point” with the Nets.
Trades cannot be completed until the NBA moratorium on offseason deals is lifted July 6.
ESPN reported Wednesday that the deal includes two second-round picks from Charlotte and helps the Hornets avoid the luxury tax. The Nets land Howard‘s $23.8 million expiring contract.
The second-round picks are No. 45 in the 2018 draft and a 2021 second-round pick, ESPN reported.
Mozgov has two years, $32.7 million remaining on his contract.
By unloading Mozgov, the Nets will save more than $16 million against the cap in 2019-20 and thus have room for two “max salary” slots for next summer’s free agency period.
Mozgov wasn’t satisfied with his limited playing time. He ended the season playing in just seven of the final 47 games.
“I’m very dissatisfied with my NBA season. It was a hard one and really bad,” Mozgov said in his personal blog on Scorum, a sports media platform. “The breaking point came quite unexpectedly. The coach just said: ‘This is the situation we have.’ There were no transitional periods, just like this: bang!”
