'Basketball Wives' -- 3 Girls AXED from Show

Dwight Howard can finally relax -- because his baby mama Royce Reed (left) just got her ass axed from "Basketball Wives" ... along with two other stars on the show.

Sources connected with production tell TMZ, Jennifer Williams (right) and Kesha Nichols (center) also got the chop -- and will be replaced next season. It's unclear who's in line to take their spots.

According to sources, producers will be giving the girls their walking papers any day now to drop what they called "dead weight" from the show.

We're told Royce was cut because she wasn't legally allowed to talk about Dwight due to a 2009 gag order, blocking her from discussing her ex in any way. The other girls on the show had also decided to ostracize her, so Royce couldn't shoot scenes with the rest of the cast.

As for the others -- producers think Jennifer's too big a liability after suing Nia Crooks for slapping her on the show. And Kesha was just too boring.