Agent: Many teams agreed to trade for Howard, but he wouldn't opt in

There was no shortage of teams willing to partner with the Rockets in a trade for Dwight Howard, and in fact, Houston had conversations with almost 25 percent of the league about dealing their starting center.

According to Howard's agent Dan Fegan, deals were done with more than one organization. But Howard has a player option for next season, and the reason he's still in Houston is because those clubs wanted assurances that he would forego free agency before giving any real assets up. 

"Many teams called expressing great interest in trading for Dwight," Fegan said, via ESPN's Marc Stein. "The obvious stumbling block to a trade was how could a team justify giving up important assets for a player who was about to become a free agent in a few short months?

"Not surprisingly, as the deadline approached, several teams called stating they had worked out the trade parameters with Houston for a Dwight deal but were not prepared to give up their assets unless Dwight agreed to opt in to the last year of his contract and forego free agency. Dwight declined."

The Rockets were reportedly seeking a frontline replacement for Howard, along with a first round pick. But without any indication that Howard would be more than a two-month rental for this season, and with his price on the open market potentially becoming astronomical this summer, it's easy to see both why Howard would choose free agency, and why other teams would choose to pass.