Los Angeles Lakers Must Still Pursue Dwight Howard Trade Possibilities

The Los Angeles Lakers need to do whatever it takes to acquire Dwight Howard because they will not win a championship with their current roster.

Howard is the best big man in the game at just 26 years old. Even if the Lakers have to gut the roster to get him, it will be worth it. 

This current Lakers squad is too old and slow to compete for a title. Even Kobe Bryant used those exact adjectives to describe his team.

Four of the five starters are over 30 years old, and besides Bryant, not one player on the roster has the ability to beat his man on the perimeter and finish strong at the rim. 

The team also struggles to get out in transition, and cannot play with teams that play an up-tempo style. The Lakers' big men, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol, are effective in half-court offenses—but are not especially fast up the floor.

Bryant is not the athlete he used to be, and Derek Fisher is hardly an ideal candidate to lead a fast break. Los Angeles is currently averaging 92 possessions per 48 minutes, which ranks 25th in the league.

Beyond the starters, there is little to get excited about. At forward, Josh McRoberts, Matt Barnes, Metta World Peace and Devin Ebanks are all decent defenders—but limited offensively. Troy Murphy and Jason Kapono are reliable shooters, but are both defensive liabilities. At guard, Andrew Goudelock and Darius Morris are inexperienced and inconsistent—and Steve Blake is injured.

The current roster deficiencies are not entirely, or even mostly, the fault of the Lakers' management. The team completed an ingenious trade in the offseason to acquire Chris Paul while freeing up over $20 million in cap space, only to have it vetoed by Commissioner David Stern.

The league's actions were unprecedented, unfair and extremely damaging to the Lakers. The team's relationship with Lamar Odom was irreparably damaged, and it is hard to imagine how much time the front offices for the Lakers, New Orleans Hornets and Houston Rockets wasted on the deal.

But Mitch Kupchak and the rest of the Lakers' brass need to move on to "Plan B," which should consist of trading for Howard.

During the offseason, Howard narrowed his wish list of trade destinations to Los Angeles, New Jersey and Dallas.

Brook Lopez, the Nets' best trade asset, got injured at the beginning of the season. Dallas does not have the pieces to trade for Howard, but could sign Howard as a free agent in the offseason.

This means that Kupchak needs to trade for the center this year, and keep the Mavericks out of the race for the big man.

The Lakers' most valuable commodity is Bynum, who will start opposite Howard in the upcoming All-Star game.

Bynum is only 24 years old, and is largely considered to be the second-best center in the NBA. In an ideal world, the two teams would swap centers and throw in a few peripheral pieces. 

However, Magic General Manager Otis Smith seems bent on keeping Howard until after the season—and making a last-gasp effort to re-sign the superstar. Howard has only encouraged his GM's delusions by failing to make a definitive public statement about his intent to leave Orlando.

Due to the stubbornness of Orlando's front office, Los Angeles may have to take a page out of Marlon Brando's book and make them an offer they cannot refuse.

If the Lakers offered Bynum, Pau Gasol and Matt Barnes' expiring contract for Howard, Ryan Anderson and Hedo Turkoglu (ESPN NBA Trade Machine approved), the Magic would have to accept the offer. 

Even if Smith puts Howard's chances of staying at 50/50, he would be crazy to turn down an offer that would give him the best center next to Howard, an All-Star power forward and allow him to get rid of Turkoglu's contract. The Lakers could sweeten the deal even more by offering Odom's trade exception for Jameer Nelson, allowing Smith to purge his team of all its bad contracts.

If both deals go down, Orlando's starting five would be Chris Duhon, Jason Richardson, Matt Barnes/Quentin Richardson, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum.

The Lakers would line up with Jameer Nelson, Kobe Bryant, Hedo Turkoglu/Metta World Peace, Ryan Anderson and Dwight Howard.

Orlando would have a young team with the flexibility to make moves and rebuild around Bynum and Gasol.

For Los Angeles, the deal would put the team in better position for future success, and possibly give them a chance to contend this season.

Nelson would be a slight improvement at point guard, while Howard is obviously a big step up at center. Going from Barnes to Turkoglu is pretty much breaking even, and Anderson is a downgrade from Gasol—but is still a good player. 

The team may not have quite enough firepower to make a championship run this year, especially if someone gets injured. 

However, the team will not contend for a title this year if it does not pull of a trade, and getting Howard puts the Lakers in excellent position going forward.

The franchise's pedigree, along with Howard and Bryant, would be more than enough to entice other quality players into signing with Los Angeles.

It is time for Kupchak and the front office to make a bold move and start turning the Lakers back into an elite team.