How the Monta Ellis Swap Affects Dwight Howard

Dwight Howard has supposedly made it clear to the Magic that he wants some kind of supporting star player. One of those supposed players was Monta Ellis. Ellis is now a member of the Milwaukee Bucks after being traded along with Ekpe Udoh and Kwame Brown for former number one overall pick Andrew Bogut as well as former Warrior slasher Stephen Jackson.

This probably takes Ellis off the market as well as taking the Warriors out of the running for Howard via trade or free agency.

The Warriors have been searching for a center for quite some time. Head Coach Marc Jackson has toyed with Udoh and incumbent Andres Biendris at the center spot after sacrificing Jeremy Lin in order to sign DeAndre Jordan to an offer sheet. They struck out on Jordan and lost Lin in the process. It doesn’t look so bad at this point seeing as they have added Bogut to pair with David Lee in the frontcourt. A nucleus of Bogut, Lee, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson sounds pretty good if I were a Warrior fan. Not to mention the fact that Jackson adds a scoring element to their wing that they probably needed at least an upgrade at.

The Magic’s chances at getting the best return have probably diminished. The Warriors were considered one of the four or five contenders for Howard along with the Nets and Lakers. Long shots and dark horses include the Mavericks and Knicks.

Other teams will recognize the Magic’s decreasing number of suitors and offer less knowing that the Magic could be desperate to move him.

Ellis really affects Howard from the standpoint that the pool of players the reigning Defensive POY would want to play with is dwindling. Not only that, but the number of those players that would be attainable is an even smaller group and shrinking still.

All in all, it’s going to get a lot messier for Dwight Howard and the Magic.

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