Rumors abound that notorious center Dwight Howard is keen on moving out of the Houston Rockets as he can choose to become a free agent at the end of the season. His hometown team, the Atlanta Hawks, are reportedly one of the most likely possible destinations of the All-Star big man when that happens.

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The 30-year-old Howard is on the third year of his four-year, $87.6 million deal with the Rockets that is set to earn him $22.3 million this season. It comes with a player option this summer and so the eight-time NBA All-Star could become an unrestricted free agent this July if chooses to opt out of his contract.

Houston had tried to deal Howard before the trade deadline this year as the team is perhaps realizing that it is time to move on from the James Harden-Howard partnership that seems to be not working.

According to ESPN, "the Rockets engaged in trade talks with numerous teams once they began aggressively shopping Howard right before the start of the All-Star break", something that Howard had not been voted in during its last two editions.

While the first overall pick of the 2004 NBA Draft has certainly declined both in terms of star power and numbers, he is still expected to gain interest from a lot of teams in need of a decent offense and a steady defensive presence inside the paint.

The report continued that the list of potential interested teams includes the Hawks, Celtics, Hornets, Bulls, Mavericks, Heat, and Bucks and that Houston is asking for a big man and a future first-round pick in exchange for Howard.

With that Fansided's Nick Ziegler predicted a reunion with Howard's hometown squad in Atlanta as a possible future for the three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year awardee.

The Atlanta-native is now heading into the wrong side of 30 and would actually want to have what is perhaps the final max contract of his diminishing career and the Hawks could be his last chance to get it.

As for Atlanta, Howard's arrival may be right on timing as its current starting center, Al Horford is reportedly planning to exit the team this summer as well.

Ziegler said that Howard would be the perfect frontline partner for power forward Paul Millsap as the latter is a stretch four that creates space inside the paint, something that Howard will thrive with.

TagsNBA Free-Agency Rumors, NBA Free-Agency Rumors 2016, Dwight Howard, houston rockets, Atlanta Hawks