NBA Trade Talk: Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles...Clippers???

We all know what Dwight Howard wants. It’s the same as what every other NBA superstar wants these days— namely, to play in a big market on a title contender.

The teams rumored to have the best shot at acquiring Superman’s services fit the bill there (Lakers, Knicks, Nets, Celtics, Bulls), but there is one team out there that is consistently absent from the discussion: the Los Angeles Clippers.

Big market? Check. Title contender? With Howard on the squad, check that one off too. And to cap it all off, the Clippers may well be able to supply Orlando with the best offer on the market.

Consider this deal: the Clippers trade Chris Kaman, Al-Farouq Aminu, DeAndre Jordan (assuming he accepts the $1.1 million qualifying offer the Clips can give him), Randy Foye, Ryan Gomes and the rights to Minnesota’s unprotected 2012 first-round draft pick.

The Magic trade Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglu’s ghastly contract. Can Orlando GM Otis Smith really do better than that? The Magic get two young, valuable prospects in Aminu (No. 8 overall pick in 2010) and Jordan (emerged as an athletic rebounding/shot-blocking center last season) as well as what’s sure to be a high lottery pick in next season’s draft to build for the future.

They also get three veteran, starting-caliber players to keep them in playoff contention next season.  In addition, the Magic get rid of the final three years of Hedo’s hideous contract, save nearly $5 million in 2011-2012, and with the contracts of Kaman and Foye expiring after next year, they clear about $16.5 million of cap space for potential free agents heading into the summer of 2012. With this deal, Otis Smith at least has some hope of selling a promising future to Magic fans.

Meanwhile, on the Clippers side, they add the best center in the league to last season’s NBA Rookie of the Year Blake Griffin, instantly giving them the best big-man tandem in the league for the next decade.

Along with stud-scoring guard Eric Gordon, the Clippers will have assembled a young, talented nucleus that will make them championship contenders for seasons to come. And with their payroll being so far under the salary cap (assuming there’s not a huge reduction in the cap next year), they can afford Turkoglu’s contract as the Dwight Trade Tax.

This trade would not only make the Clippers the most exciting team in the league, it would make them (and this is probably more important for the sake of the organization) the most exciting team in Los Angeles. This would be the franchise’s chance to upstage the aging Lakers and rule the City of Angels.

With so many trendy bandwagon fans populating Los Angeles, making a huge splash like this could turn L.A. in to Clip City. This deal makes sense from both teams’ perspectives. Heck, even Dwight gets the big market and title contender he desires. It’s really a win-win-win.