The Houston Rockets have decided not to trade Dwight Howard away at the deadline.

Howard is expected to opt out of his contract this offseason and the Rockets explored what they could acquire in exchange for him.

The Rockets were unable to gain much traction on a deal as teams didn't want to give up core assets for Howard.

The Milwaukee Bucks reportedly had interest in Howard in the final 24 hours. Marc Stein adds the Bucks tried to get Howard to opt into the final year of his contract and were unsuccessful.

Stein also reports the Rockets told several teams that it wasn't prepared to trade Howard without receiving at least one frontline player and a future first-round draft pick in return.

Beyond the Bucks, the Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Charlotte Hornets, Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat also had talks with the Bucks.

"Many teams called expressing great interest in trading for Dwight," Howard's agent, Dan Fegan, told ESPN.com on Thursday night. "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 into the last year of his contract and forego free agency. Dwight declined."

Howard again said he didn't make a trade demand.