Jett Howard is getting a fresh start in Dallas.
The former Magic guard-forward signed a two-way contract with the Mavericks, the team announced Monday night, giving the 2023 lottery pick another chance to carve out an NBA role after three seasons in Orlando. Howard was the No. 11 pick in that draft and appeared in 133 regular-season games for the Magic.
Orlando moved on from him as a standard roster piece when it declined in October to exercise his fourth-year rookie team option, a $7.3 million decision for the 2026-27 season. That made Howard an unrestricted free agent this summer.
The 6-foot-8 wing spent last season averaging 5.5 points and 1.6 rebounds in 12.6 minutes per game across 55 appearances. His best shooting year came in his third season, when he hit 37.2% from 3-point range, though he did so on just 2.6 attempts per game. Before that, he shot 28% from deep as a rookie and 29.6% in his second season.
The Magic drafted Howard out of Michigan with hopes he could help boost the team’s perimeter shooting, but he never quite matched those expectations. He did improve defensively over his three years in Orlando, yet he still struggled to show the kind of defensive intensity former coach Jamahl Mosley wanted on a regular basis. Mosley was fired in May after Orlando’s third straight first-round playoff exit.
Howard’s path in Orlando never looked as clean as the one fellow 2023 first-rounder Anthony Black took, and the Magic also couldn’t fully shape him into their defensive-minded system.
Now 23 years old on Sept. 14, Howard joins a Mavericks setup that comes with a clear catch: a two-way deal only allows a player to move between the NBA and G League, be active for 50 NBA games, and miss the playoffs.
Dallas had to clear a spot to make it happen, waiving two-way forward Tyler Smith. Teams can carry only three players on two-way contracts.
The Mavericks are coached by Dusty May, who spent the last two seasons at Michigan and won a national championship there in the spring. Dallas fired Jason Kidd after five seasons earlier this offseason.
May’s path to the NBA bench has moved quickly. He led Florida Atlantic to the Final Four in 2023 and became the first college head coach to jump directly to an NBA head coaching job since Cleveland hired Michigan’s John Beilein in 2019.
At Michigan, May replaced Jett Howard’s father, Juwan Howard, after the school fired him in March 2024.
Jett Howard played his lone college season for his father and came away with All-Big Ten third-team honors and Big Ten All-Freshman team honors in 2022-23.
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