Quentin Richardson

Magic Waive Richardson, Harper, Johnson

The Magic have waived Quentin Richardson, Justin Harper, and Chris Johnson, a team official told Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (via Twitter).  Richardson will be owed $5MM over the next two years while Harper is guaranteed $762K for this season.  Johnson's deal was non-guaranteed.

Richardson was set to earn $2.627MM this season and held a $2.808MM player option for 2013/14 that now becomes guaranteed after being waived.  The guard came to Orlando on a widely panned four-year deal worth more than $10MM in the 2010 offseason.  In two years with the club, the 32-year-old averaged 4.4 PPG and 2.9 RPG.

Harper, 23, was taken with the 32nd overall pick in the 2011 draft by the Cavs before being traded to Orlando for two future second-round selections.  The big man saw time in 14 games for the Magic last season.

Dwight Howard Rumors: Monday

It may not be many more days until our long national Dwightmare is over. Yesterday's reports on Howard suggested talks involving the Magic, Nets, and Cavaliers were getting serious, and that Orlando plans to make "one last sweep" around the league before deciding whether to accept the Nets' offer. While we wait to see if anything is agreed upon today, here are the latest rumblings on the Howard front:

  • Chad Ford's ESPN.com report includes some more slight tweaks to the framework described below. Ford adds Chris Duhon to the list of players headed to the Nets, suggests the Magic would receive one fewer first-rounder (a total of three instead of four), and says the Cavs would receive $3MM in cash.
  • Ford's report, along with tweets from the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, suggest that the Cavs and Clippers still aren't entirely on board. The Plain Dealer tweets that talk of a deal getting close is premature, while Berger says the Clips haven't agreed to anything yet and are one of several potential fourth-team facilitators in the mix (Twitter links).

Earlier updates:

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Magic, Warriors, Hornets Discussing Ellis Deal

6:13pm: According to ESPN.com's Marc Stein, Golden State has moved away from talks of a three-team deal that would send Monta Ellis to Orlando. In a tweet, Stein says the Warriors are far more interested in assembling a package to offer Milwaukee for Andrew Bogut. Stein went on to say that the Warriors would be unwilling to part with Ellis, even if it meant getting rid of Andris Biedrins' contract, one of the worst in the league. According to an ESPN report by both Stein and Chris Broussard, the Magic will continue to spend the next 48 hours seeking various options on how they can add an enticing player to keep Dwight Howard happy. If they can't make a splash, they'll then spend the last 24 hours before the deadline looking at all their trade options.

1:57pm: The Magic, Hornets, and Warriors are discussing a three-way trade that would send Monta Ellis to Orlando, multiple league sources tell Jarrod Rudolph of RealGM.com. According to Rudolph, Warriors players being discussed include Ellis, Andris Biedrins, and Dorell Wright, while Magic players mentioned include Ryan Anderson, J.J. Redick, Hedo Turkoglu, Quentin Richardson, and Daniel Orton. Taking into account the Warriors' reported interest in Chris Kaman, the Hornets' involvement likely means Kaman would be going to Golden State if a deal was reached.

Although nothing is imminent, talks are ongoing, says Rudolph. I'd be surprised to see the three clubs work out an agreement, given all the moving parts involved, not to mention the presence of the league-owned Hornets — with David Stern still acting as the team's de facto owner, he'll have the opportunity to turn down any trade he doesn't feel benefits the team.

Reports in recent weeks have also indicated that the Warriors aren't looking to move Ellis unless they can acquire Dwight Howard. So it would be unexpected to see them move the Western Conference player of the week to Orlando for non-Howard assets. As Sam Amick of SI.com tweets, Joe Lacob seems unlikely to help the Magic keep Howard, since the Warriors owner covets the star center himself.