Washington Wizards free-agent swingman Josh Howard has drawn interest from at least six teams, reports Chris Broussard of ESPN, but the Wizards are among the four to have "shown [the] most interest" in the eight-year veteran. Howard met with the Utah Jazz on Tuesday morning, Broussard says.
The Jazz, New Jersey Nets, and San Antonio Spurs are the three other teams seriously vying with Washington for Howard's services, with the Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets also in the mix.
Howard, a career 15.1 points per game scorer and a one-time All-Star, has played in just 53 games over the last two seasons as he recovered from knee and ankle injuries. In his 22-game Wizards career, the Wake Forest product owns averages of 9.5 points and four rebounds on 37.5 percent shooting.
The Wizards acquired Howard and three other players from the Dallas Mavericks at the Feb. 2010 trading deadline, sending Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood, and DeShawn Stevenson to Dallas as they began dismantling the core of the team that consistently won between 41 and 45 games from the 2004/05 season to the 2007/08 season. Four days after acquiring Howard, they would continue that project by sending Antawn Jamison to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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