Drew Gooden to the Washington Wizards on Saturday in a seven-player
deal that sends Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood to Dallas.
Howard was in his seventh season with Dallas,
a span filled with promise and disappointment since being the 29th
overall pick in 2003. Gooden, signed by Dallas last summer, will be
going to his eighth team in eight NBA seasons.
It is a significant move for the Southwest
Division-leading Mavericks (32-20), a deal announced just before the
start of the Saturday night All-Star activities in their home arena.
Dallas lost five of its seven games before the
All-Star break, and play four games in five nights starting Tuesday in
Oklahoma City.
For the Wizards (17-33), the trade means more
moves for the team that has already lost Gilbert Arenas and Javaris
Crittenton. Both were suspended last month by the NBA for the rest of
the season after both admitted to bringing a gun into the locker room
after a dispute stemming from a card game on a team flight.
"We're all disappointed in how our season has
gone. We need some freshness and we're getting proven players who will
help us, and it gives us some flexibility down the road," Wizards
president Ernie Grunfeld said. "We want to remain competitive and maybe
this group can provide a spark. The group had gotten stale, and we
needed a change."
The Mavericks also get guard DeShawn Stevenson
and cash considerations from Washington. James Singleton and Quinton
Ross go to the Wizards to round out the deal.
Butler averaged 16.9 points and 6.7 rebounds
in 47 games this season, and Haywood was the Wizards' top rebounder
with 10.3 per game.
"Caron is an established professional and an
All-Star with the ability to score from anywhere on the floor," said
Donnie Nelson, the Mavericks' president of basketball operations.
"Brendan will solidify our center position with athleticism, shot
blocking and defense. DeShawn has also shown that he can be a talented
asset to this team."
Howard played 431 games for the Mavericks,
and was the team's second-longest tenured player behind All-Star
forward Dirk Nowitzki.
In 31 games this season, when he was limited
the first couple of months while recovering from offseason surgery on
his left ankle and started only nine times, Howard averaged 12.5
points. He also had surgery on his left wrist last summer.
Howard was an All-Star in 2007, when he
averaged 18.9 points in 70 games. He had his best season a year later,
when he averaged 19.9 points.
The same season of his All-Star appearance,
Howard said in a radio interview during a first-round playoff series
against New Orleans that he occasionally smoked marijuana. Later that
same series, he angered then-coach Avery Johnson by throwing himself a
birthday party after a Game 4 loss to the Hornets.
Then last summer, a video posted on YouTube
showed Howard disrespecting the national anthem while attending a
charity flag football game. On the first day of Mavericks training
camp, Howard made a statement before taking questions from reporters
and apologized.