Golden State Warriors Aggressively Pursuing Dwight Howard

The Golden State Warriors are aggressively pursuing a trade for Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard, according to Yahoo! Sports.

The Warriors, who had previously not been thought of as one of the top contenders to land Howard, are reportedly willing to trade away significant pieces of their future even without a contract extension set in place for the three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year. According to Yahoo!, Golden State is willing to bring on Howard as a one-year “rental” with the hopes that they will be able to convince him to stay long-term during the season.

Yahoo! also reports that Golden State would be open to trading one of their two young and talented guards, Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis in order to get Howard. The Warriors were not one of the teams which Howard had listed on his short list of clubs he would be open to signing a contract extension with.

While at one point a Howard trade seemed immanent, the Magic have said recently that they are not likely to trade Howard until closer to the NBA’s trade deadline, if at all. By waiting until closer to the deadline to potentially deal Howard, the Magic open the door to convincing the center to possibly stay with the team, and also give themselves more leverage in a potential trade.