The Atlanta Hawks have agreed to send Dwight Howard and the 31st pick in the 2017 NBA Draft to the Charlotte Hornets for Miles Plumlee, Marco Belinelli, and the 41st pick in the draft, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical.
After playing just one year of his 3-year/$70.5 million deal with his hometown team, Howard will now take his services to the Hornets. The Hawks are paying a high price to free themselves of Howard too as Plumlee has three more seasons at $12.5 million and the team gave up a borderline first-round pick. With Paul Millsap likely on the move as well, the Hawks' rebuild is in full swing. For Charlotte, the move solidifies a somewhat revolving door at center and could change their focus to the backcourt with the 11th pick in Thursday's draft.
Last season with Atlanta, Howard averaged 13.5 points, 12.7 boards, and 1.2 blocks per game while posting an impressive 7.8 nERD rating -- ranking him 24th among all 486 NBA players.
Source: Adrian Wojnarowski, The Vertical