Lakers Rumors: Andrew Bynum's Run-in with Law Will Keep Dwight Howard with Magic

If the Magic are going to move Dwight Howard, they need to know that the players they get in return aren't serious risks. If they're going to move a player like Howard, they can't have any doubts away from what the return players will bring to the court. 

The more things that happen with Andrew Bynum, the more that he fits that description. Bynum had three separate incidents with police in the month of December. According to TMZ, the most recent is for attempting an illegal pass.

Let's not kid ourselves here. None of these charges are particularly serious. I'm certainly not sitting here thinking that Bynum is going to be in the penitentiary at some point, but that's not up for debate. 

The notion that Bynum will be inevitably moved to Orlando for Howard, as was opined by Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel, is a different concern.

Let's take a quick look at the tale of the tape from an on-court perspective. 

	Andrew Bynum	Dwight Howard
Age	24	26
All-Star Appearances	0	5
Career PPG	10.5	18.2
Career RPG	7.1	12.8
Career BGP	1.5	2.2
Average Games Per Season	55	81

With the exception of age, Howard has Bynum beat in every single area. Now, we have Bynum coming off of a four-game suspension. If you need a sign to keep Howard, that's a pretty good one. You just never know what kind of attitude you're going to get from Bynum. 

And now we have this. No, nobody from Orlando is going to look at this as a sign that Bynum is a felon, but it's yet another factor working against Bynum. If you're going to move a player like Howard, you can't have anything even slightly suggesting that your returns aren't going to be helpful. 

At this point, look for the Magic to hold onto Howard for a while. They can catch a desperate team trying to work its way into contention, willing to bring Howard in for a glorified rental. You never know what a team will be willing to do if a potential championship is imminent. 

You also don't know for sure that you can't bring Howard back. Even if the Magic do know that, they can also save a lot of money and bring in other players. Why not? The Magic are built to win now, with veteran players. Orlando is also a nice destination spot. Future big name free agents will come. 

The more Andrew Bynum builds up small things against, the less likely the Magic will be to overlook the huge talent discrepancy between Howard and Bynum. 

From a legal perspective, what's hit Bynum is not much, and I certainly don't expect it to grow. From a basketball perspective, it's just more reason for teams to stay away. This doesn't do anything to bolster his value to the Magic. Don't look for Howard to be moved any time soon.

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