NBA Trade Rumors: Dwight Howard Has to Be Realistic About Orlando's Title Hopes

Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard is having yet another great season, but the team knows he would rather be playing basketball in another city for another team.

We know this because Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reported on Monday that Howard's request to be traded is still on the table. He'll keep suiting up for the Magic for the time being, but there's still a legit possibility he will be traded sometime before the March 15 trade deadline.

But, as he told Yahoo! Sports, the Magic's early success is complicating things a little.

“I don’t think they are going to do anything right now because we’re winning,” Howard said, referring to the Magic's 6-3 record. “Even if this is the last season, let’s go out hard, regardless.”

Comments like this are par for the course for Howard. Behind closed doors, he has a standing trade request, but he continues to play nice publicly. Privately he wants out, but publicly he's willing to stick around.

He wants to be the nice guy.

Spears' sources claim Howard is indeed willing to stay in Orlando, but only if he approves of the team's direction:

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Yet while the Magic still hope to convince Howard to stay with them, sources close to the All-Star center said he’d have to be convinced the team is a legitimate championship contender. The six teams the Magic have beaten this season have a combined record of 12-37.

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Given the relative mediocrity of the Eastern Conference, the Magic are pretty much a lock to make the postseason cut this season. As such, they will be contending for a championship come springtime. 

But is this Magic team a "legitimate" championship contender?

No way. Not even close.

Though the Magic are getting solid contributions from players not named Dwight Howard (Ryan Anderson FTW!), they remain a team consisting of one superstar and a handful of role players. This has been the Magic's lot in life ever since they got beat in the 2009 NBA Finals, and it will remain the team's lot in life for as long as Howard is around.

The only way Howard is going to be around beyond March 15 is if he buys into what the Magic are doing, thus signaling he thinks that he has just as good a shot to win a championship in Orlando as he does anywhere else.

Howard shouldn't fall into that trap. The Magic are going to win their share of basketball games, but they're not getting through teams like the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls when the postseason rolls around.

In the event that the Magic make a miraculous run to the Finals, they would have to dispatch the best team that a very strong Western Conference has to offer.

In short, it's not going to happen for Howard this year. Not in Orlando, anyway.

If he has any sense, he'll realize that and he'll have the common courtesy to let the Magic know. If he's going to leave no matter what, he may as well let them get something for him.

Howard doesn't owe the Magic that much, mind you, but it would be the nice guy thing to do.