The Orlando Magic did not win the war, they just earned the right to fight it for another year.
Multiple reports now confirm that Howard has waived the opt-out clause in his contract, meaning he will remain with the Magic for the 2012-13 season. And make $19.5 million. Which is pretty good money where I come from. Chris Broussard of ESPN was the first to report the official signing, although RealGM broke the story last night Howard had finally settled on signing the waiver.
Interestingly, Howard was allowed to execute the waiver without he signature of his agent Dan Fegan, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com.
Howard had flip-flopped worse than a presidential candidate the last 48 hours between wanting to stay with the Magic and wanting to keep his free agent options open.
He said that he had wanted to stay but had been getting bad advice. He apologized to the fans of the Orlando Magic for the “circus” he put them through.
But the circus will be back in town next year unless the Magic make improvements to their roster. Howard wants to win and thinks they are close right now in Orlando — that’s why he wants to stay — but the reality is they are still a couple steps behind both the Heat and the Bulls. They will need to find a way to improve this roster or next trade deadline we will all be right back in the same place.
