It appears Dwight Howard won't be playing for the Brooklyn Nets, after all. 

One day after the Hornets reportedly traded Howard to Brooklyn for Timofey Mozgov and a pair of second-round draft picks, the embattled big man is already negotiating a buyout with the Nets so that he can hit free agency in July, according to ESPN's Chris Haynes.

Both the Nets and the eight-time All-Star, who has an expiring $23.8 million contract, have "agreed to work together on securing a buyout," Haynes said Thursday, meaning the 32-year-old center could join some of 2018 free agency's biggest names.

"I want to be in a situation where I have an opportunity to help a team win," Howard said. "That's my only goal. All I need is a real chance and a clean slate where it's not people talking about my past."

As CBS Sports' Chris Barnewall noted on Wednesday, "Brooklyn didn't bring Howard in with intentions to win," instead likely landing him as a means of offloading Mozgov's deal and gaining future salary cap relief.

But the looming buyout still makes for yet another curious pit stop in Howard's career. A former back-to-back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year and MVP candidate with the Orlando Magic, he's now been traded twice in two years and will be playing for his sixth team -- seventh, technically, if you include the Nets -- after he presumably finds a new home in free agency.