Dwight Howard Trade Rumors: The Sensitive Situation in Orlando

As if there was any doubt that the Orlando Magic didn't really want to trade superstar center Dwight Howard, team owner Richard DeVos, Sr. came out and made it abundantly obvious on Thursday.

"I don't want to trade him," said DeVos, according to ESPN.com.

It's getting to be crunch time in the Howard trade watch. The trade deadline is March 15, giving the Magic a little more than a month to deal Howard. If they choose not to and/or are unable to work out a deal with another team, they'll risk losing Howard to free agency this offseason.

Nevertheless, talks between Howard and the Magic are ongoing. There is a chance, slim as it is, that the Magic will convince Howard that Orlando is where he belongs.

"We like to think we're making headway," DeVos said of the negotiations between the two sides. "But I don't know. He probably won't know until the end and I won't either."

Ultimately, it's up to Howard.

"You never give up," DeVos said. "We've got a great talent, a great young man. He's got to look at his options (and) what's best for him and I have to tell him what I think is best for him. I'm selfish."

The point has been made (and reported) over and over again that DeVos is not very interested in starting fresh without Howard. He's 85 years old, and it could take years for the Magic to construct a new championship-caliber team. Understandably, DeVos wants to win now.

DeVos had a chance to pull the trigger on a Howard trade. As Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported in December, the Magic had a complex deal in place with the New Jersey Nets and Portland Trail Blazers in which the Magic would have gotten Brook Lopez, Gerald Wallace and a first-round pick.

Per Wojnarowski, the proposed trade got as far as ownership—and that's where it died. It's not hard to guess who the executioner was.

The deal the Magic had in place was a good one, but the organization's thinking was based around the notion that it could always rekindle trade talks down the road. Until then, perhaps a successful season would convince Howard to stay.

The Magic are hanging in there at 16-10, but it's been ugly. Most notably, Howard made headlines for ripping his teammates in late January.

That was just another reminder that there are two Dwight Howards in Orlando. There is the happy-go-lucky Howard, and there is the volatile Howard who gets easily frustrated and who was supposedly "not a happy camper" when the preseason trade was killed.

The Magic have to convince both of these Howards to stay for him to ultimately stay with the team. Convincing the easily frustrated Howard is going to be the hard part.

It's a sensitive situation. There's really no other word for it. At any given moment, there's no telling which way Howard is leaning, nor is there any telling how in tune the organization is with the reality of the situation.

What we can take for granted is that the Magic are not going to rush this. If they are going to determine that trading Howard is the best course of action, it likely won't be for some time.

Until then, this is a game beyond the games.