NBA Rumors: Rockets Would Be Foolish to Enter Dwight Howard Sweepstakes

Houston is about to have a problem.

The Houston Rockets are in no position to trade for Dwight Howard. Apparently, they’re oblivious to that fact as their name has been thrown in the hat for the D12-sweepstakes.

Alex Kennedy of Hoopsworld tweeted this puzzling report that a new franchise had emerged as potential trading partners with the Orlando Magic.

"

Rockets are among the teams willing to acquire Dwight Howard as a one-year rental. They believe they could eventually persuade him to stay.

— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) June 21, 2012"

A toxin may or may not have contaminated Houston’s water. I’m simply trying to give the Rockets the benefit of the doubt that it isn’t their fault they’ve conjured up such a ludicrous scenario.

Who in the world do they have that would interest the Magic? Kyle Lowry. That’s it.

Kevin Martin is 29 years old and declining. Luis Scola is 32 years old and declining. Goran Dragic and Donatas Motiejunas are their only other players with any significant trade value and Dragic is a free agent while Motiejunas hasn’t played a second in the NBA.

Of course, maybe the Rockets don’t read the papers. Because if they don’t, they wouldn’t know that Fred Kerber of the New York Post reported that the Magic could have dealt Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers for a package that was centered on Andrew Bynum. Houston can’t compete with that.

The only way that the Rockets could possibly spark the Magic’s interests is if they threw together an offer that included Lowry, Martin, Scola and Samuel Dalembert for Howard and Hedo Turkoglu. Unless they throw in both of their first-round picks as well, even that’s a stretch, but if Orlando were to accept such a deal, what would keep Howard from darting next summer? Houston just traded all the talent that they had for him.

The Rockets are a well-run franchise that always seems to overachieve. They should stick to building through the draft and being patient in free agency and the trade market—not going all-in for a superstar that has absolutely no interest playing for them.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

Follow @TheRealDDaniels