BUTLER & HOWARD IN MAVS-WIZ BLOCKBUSTER
The Washington Wizards acquired Josh Howard, Drew Gooden, James Singleton and Quinton Ross from the Dallas Mavericks for Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood, DeShawn Stevenson and cash.
What does it give the Washington Wizards
Despite losing a star in Butler, the bottom-dwelling Wiz do a nice job here freeing up cap space for the highly-anticipated summer free agent pool. All four of the players Washington adds here have expriring deals (which highly-paid Butler did not), and while Howard isn't playing up to his usual standards--and it will hurt in the short-term giving up a core guy like Butler--with Gilbert Arenas possibly not in the team's long-term plans either this may be the first step in a rebuilding push by the Wiz.
What does it give the Dallas Mavericks
The trio of Butler, Haywood, and Stevenson could provide the Mavs a perfect jump-start for their title hopes. Butler can slot in right away as the starter at either small forward or shooting guard, either letting Jason Terry head back to his more familiar sixth man spot or bumping the aging and underwhelming Shawn Marion to the bench. Haywood (who's having a career season) should be a solid upgrade at center. The underrated Stevenson provides good defense off the bench. The one drawback is Butler still has one more year after this one on his big deal (giving Big D less flexibility this summer) but they clearly want to win now.
Fantasy impact
