NBA Rumors: Magic Must Keep Hawks Engaged in Dwight Howard Trade Talks

You can’t make a profit at an auction with only one bidder.

The Orlando Magic may only have one bidder for Dwight Howard right now in the Los Angeles Lakers. 

Otis Smith has some time before the trade deadline, but he must reengage the Atlanta Hawks in trade talks as soon as possible in order to drive up the price.

As of now, it looks like the Lakers could get away with offering just Andrew Bynum for Howard, along with a couple of minor pieces thrown in.  Los Angeles holds that leverage because their greatest competitor, the New Jersey Nets, lost their major trading piece in Brook Lopez to a foot injury.  With the Hawks back into the mix, though, all of a sudden the Lakers would be forced into a Bynum and Pau Gasol for Howard scenario once again.

According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, the Hawks were talking with the Magic in early December about moving Josh Smith and Joe Johnson to Orlando for D12.  Understandably, the discussions broke down.  Orlando would be absolutely insane to take on Johnson’s contract as they’re trying to rebuild. 

Swap Johnson for Al Horford in the trade, though, and LA really has some competition for Howard’s services.  That is the challenge; if the Magic can convince the Hawks to include Horford and Smith in a deal for Dwight and Hedo Turkoglu, they can then drive up the asking price to Bynum and Gasol. And if both teams bite, Orlando has the luxury to either pick and choose or drive the bid even higher.

Attempting to re-sign Howard is a lost cause.  He wants to win a championship, and it isn’t realistic to believe that the Magic could do so under the given circumstances.  Most of all, though, Superman wants to play in a mammoth market, and there’s nothing the city of Orlando can do about that.

Losing Howard isn’t a lose-lose situation.  If they can drain a trading-partner of young talent like the Denver Nuggets did to the New York Knicks last season, without letting everyone run off the China, the Magic can set themselves up with an even brighter future than they currently have with Howard.  That only happens, though, if they can draw multiple serious bidders into trade talks.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer. Follow him on Twitter.