Dwight Howard Trade Rumors: Why D12 Might Not Be Traded at All

Amid all the Dwight Howard trade rumors to several locations including the Lakers, Nets and Hawks, one thing isn’t necessarily being considered: what if Howard doesn’t get traded at all? There could be several factors that could allow this scenario to play out.

For one, the Magic don’t look horrible to begin the season. Howard is playing out of his mind with back-to-back 24 rebound games, and Ryan Anderson is emerging as a scoring threat. The Magic are 3-1 after easily dispatching Houston, New Jersey and Charlotte.

This type of performance could leave the delusional Magic front office, including general manager Otis Smith, to believe the team can retain Howard.

Secondly, Otis Smith isn’t going to find a deal that fairly compensates Orlando for the loss of Howard. One such deal Orlando turned down was receiving Nets center Brook Lopez and Trailblazers forward Gerald Wallace while dumping the hideous contracts of Chris Duhon and Hedo Turkoglu.

The deal with New Jersey fell through, as did the deal with Atlanta involving Josh Smith, Joe Johnson and potentially Al Horford. The Magic then removed Howard from the trading block.

Many rumors circulated about Howard going to Los Angeles to play for the Lakers, but that will never happen. The only deal L.A. could offer is Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol, but Lakers executive Jim Buss says the team would never give up both for Howard.

The Magic are stuck in a very difficult position. It would come as no surprise if the organization sits on its hands waiting for better compensation until it is too late. That or they could continue in their delusional ways thinking they can entice Howard to stay.

In the end it’s simple—trade Howard for something, anything, before it’s too late.