Otis Smith won't rule out trading Dwight Howard trade if it's necessary
Otis Smith wants nothing more than to retain superstar center Dwight Howard for the long term, but in an interview Wednesday, the Orlando Magic's general manager wouldn’t rule out trading Howard if he has no other choice.
“I think you have to look at everything,” Smith told the Orlando Sentinel when asked if he'd consider dealing Howard to another team.
“I don’t think you can take anything out of consideration. I think, one, you have to talk to your player first. We have to figure out where his head is, not where everyone thinks his head is, and just more figure out where he wants to be. And then you have to make the best decision of what’s in the best interests of the franchise. That’s how I’ve always went about it: to make the best decision that’s in the best interests of the Orlando Magic.
“I think you have to wait and leave all that up in the air. I don’t think you can say you will or you won’t [trade] at this point, because you don’t know what you don’t know. I can speculate based on what I read and hear, but that’s really not fair to Dwight and it’s not fair to us. So you have to have a conversation with him about what he wants to do, and then you have to make the best decision that’s in the best interests of the franchise, as always.”
