Dwight Howard reportedly interested in signing with Golden State Warriors

Per Sam Amick of USA Today, Dwight Howard has serious interest in signing with the Golden State Warriors in free agency despite questions concerning fit.

Dwight Howard clearly doesn’t care whether everyone in the universe believes he wouldn’t be a good fit with the reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors.

According to USA Today’s Sam Amick, the 32-year-old, eight-time NBA All-Star big man has “serious interest” in finding a deal with the defending champs.

Howard played the past season with the Charlotte Hornets, averaging 16.6 points, 12.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.6 blocks over the course of 81 games. On June 20, he was traded to the Brooklyn Nets, with whom he’s expected to reach a buyout agreement to make him a free agent.

While the Dubs could certainly use a big man like Howard, questions remain whether his style of play and personality would translate well into Golden State’s established culture.

Howard’s list of preferred destinations doesn’t start and end with the Warriors, however; Amick names the New Orleans Pelicans, Washington Wizards and wherever LeBron James ends up as other possible options.

And much like Golden State’s issue with trying to sign DeAndre Jordan, the Warriors merely have their $5.3 million mid-level exception to offer to any big-name free agents, which would eventually cost them upwards of $20 million in luxury tax fees.

Signing either Howard or Jordan would likely result in the departure of JaVale McGee, unfortunately. While I would prefer Jordan over McGee as a starting center when the team opts not to start small, I question whether either of them would prove a significant upgrade over McGee in the same amount of minutes.

In addition, I’m not even sure if either of them would be okay with playing roughly 15 minutes a game after averaging about 30 minutes per game for most of their careers. Any veteran big man coming in needs to understand Golden State’s strengths lie in their small-ball system, limiting the role of traditional 7-footers.

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On the other hand, we had similar questions before guys like McGee and Nick Young came into the picture, and things turned out just fine. I wouldn’t put it past Steve Kerr and the Warriors finding a way to shift the consensus on Howard.