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Dwight Howard has fired his longtime agent, Dan Fegan, opening up a new world of possibilities for his impending free agency this offseason.
He announced the firing in a statement sent to the NBA reporter who knows him best, USA Today's Sam Amick.
Rockets big man Dwight Howard has parted ways w/ agent Dan Fegan. He issued this statement to @USATODAYsports pic.twitter.com/WHXISl4EpG
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) February 26, 2016
It's important to remember that Fegan was DeAndre Jordan's agent this summer, when that big man had a free agency debacle not seen since, well, Dwight Howard's. Fegan has long been one of the league's top power brokers, but he's losing his biggest clients, this one right before his last big payday.
Dwight has said repeatedly that he wants to test free agency, rather that opt-in to the final year of his four-year contract. But his firing of Fegan now opens up the possibility that he might opt back in at around $23 million instead of chasing the new deal next year. Or it could just mean Dwight wants someone else in negotiations for the free agent market.
Really, it's just another dimension to the ongoing strangeness that is Dwight's February. There have not been actual reports that he ever wanted out of Houston. Harden and Dwight met with management. After that, it was reported management was going to sniff out the league's appetite for Dwight. There, apparently, wasn't very much of one, and the two awkwardly-paired superstars remain awkwardly paired.
Dwight is 30, and while his on-court maturity can still be called into question, his on-court maturity no longer can. He has been on-message all season long, professing his love for this city and this team. He's, frankly, a titan leaguewide in terms of community involvement and charity work. And he's third in the NBA in rebounding and field goal percentage.
Has he not produced like we thought? Yes. But he's seriously come on in the last dozen or so Rockets games, and was a a major factor in last night's epic victory over Portland. Pardon the cliché, but the only constant in the Rockets' 2015-2016 season has been inconsistency. Dwight has been consistent.
Maybe a new agent, whoever it is, will add a dose of sanity to this summer. We can only hope.