The Los Angeles Lakers have given every indication that they want Dwight Howard to be the starting center in The Staples Center next season—and for years beyond that—but by doing so, they've pushed Andrew Bynum past the point of no return. 

Bynum is a mentally fragile and occasionally immature basketball player. He's great at what he does on the court, though. In fact, only D12 is better at the center position and that may not be true for too much longer. 

Right now, the Lakers should be courting their young seven-footer and giving him every indication that they value his services. They should be assuring Bynum that they value him and wish to keep throwing him out as the starting center for every game in the foreseeable future. 

Instead, the Lakers are giving the opposite impression, one indicating that he is expendable and nothing more than a trading chip that could bring Howard to L.A. 

Bynum has seemed to be growing frustrated with the Lakers for a while now. There was the ill-advised three-pointer that led to his benching. There were the huddles that he constantly shied away from. 

There was also this quote from an article by Elliott Teaford of the Daily News: 

All-Star center Andrew Bynum's ill-advised 3-pointer, which prompted coach Mike Brown to bench him for most of the second half of Tuesday's win over the Golden State Warriors, was only "the tip of the iceberg," according to a Lakers insider. Bynum's shot was the latest in a catalogue of items that have annoyed Brown, his staff, the players and team management over the past few weeks. Brown had seen enough and decided to sit the 7-footer for all but 5 minutes, 17 seconds of the second half. The 24-year-old Bynum has played loud music in the Lakers' locker room, which has been frowned upon over the years. He also has been disrespectful to members of the coaching staff and to his teammates for about the past three weeks.

Bynum is the kind of player that wants to be happy while he's on the basketball court. He's still a kid and he wants to have fun. 

He hasn't yet reached the stage in his career where the ring is the only driving force, one that can make him put up with a situation he doesn't love if it's the one that affords him the most success. 

Bynum has been growing discontent in the Lakers organization for a while now and the lack of commitment shown to him by L.A. is only going to push him over the edge. 

It's been quite some time since Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted that Bynum had a short list of teams he was interested in going to during the 2013 free agency period, but that time has been filled up with more rumors about Dwight putting on a purple and gold jersey. 

At this point, the Lakers might as well continue to pursue Dwight because they've already pushed Bynum over the edge. 

Good luck getting him to sign an extension now.