DALLAS — The Mavericks traded forward Josh Howard and 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 with 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.
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