Atlanta Hawks trade Dwight Howard to Charlotte Hornets

Update: The Hawks officially announced the trade overnight.

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The Atlanta Hawks have reportedly begun their reconstruction under the leadership of Travis Schlenk. On Tuesday evening, word broke from Marc Spears of ESPN that former All-Star center Dwight Howard is on the move via a trade to the Charlotte Hornets.

After that initial report, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical provided clarity on the return.

Howard has two years remaining on a three-year contract that pays more than $47 million in total. In exchange, the Hawks will be taking on three years of Miles Plumlee at $12.5 million annually and the final year of Marco Belinelli’s contract that will pay him north of $6.6 million for the 2017-2018 season.

Plumlee will turn 29 in September and he is a functional rotation center. With that said, his contract is not a positive asset and it will be interesting to see if Atlanta intends to hold on to the deal long-term. As for Belinelli, the 31-year-old wing provides shooting (37.7 percent for his career from three) and that could be a positive asset on an expiring contract.

Because of schematic issues and a now infamous exit interview, the notion that Howard could be moved in the offseason does not come as a pure shock. In the same breath, pulling off such a transaction before the 2017 NBA Draft opens things up in a way for Atlanta, even if it does necessarily clear the decks from a salary cap perspective.

For now, it appears that Dwight Howard is headed just a few hours up I-85 to continue his career in Charlotte and the Hawks are headed in a different direction. Stay tuned.