NBA Trade Rumors: Breaking Down How Dwight Howard for Pau Gasol Deal Would Work

No superstar's name has been floated around in trade rumors more recently than the Los Angeles Lakers Pau Gasol.

In the past couple of weeks, Gasol has been linked everywhere from Boston for Rajon Rondo, to Minnesota for Derrick Williams and according to Chris Sheridan at SheridanHoops, the Chicago Bulls could now be players for Gasol.

But the hot name that Lakers fans have had their eye on since the lockout ended has been the Orlando Magic's Dwight Howard.

If the Lakers make their intentions clear on Gasol, as Kobe Bryant suggested, and they targeted Howard with him, here is how a potential deal would break down.

First of all, remember that the salaries play a big role in getting a deal done. It's not as simple as saying we will give you Player A for Player B.

In the case of Gasol for Howard, though, they both are making slightly over $18 million for the season, so the salaries wouldn't be an issue right off the bat.

But there's no way Orlando would be interested in a straight up swap. They would be crazy to even think about it.

Orlando general manager Otis Smith made it clear early in the season that the franchise would need players, cap relief and draft picks to consider any deal for the All-Star center.

The draft picks wouldn't be a problem for Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak, as Los Angeles has a pair of first-rounders in the 2012 draft thanks to the Lamar Odom trade.

So throw them in and we have Howard for Gasol and two first-round picks.

That's still not enough to land Howard and the Lakers would then have a problem of having Bynum and Howard, two natural centers. Neither will be able to switch to the 4 and cover power forwards that can extend defenses.

That brings us back to the initial thought in December of including both Bynum and Gasol in a deal for Howard. Orlando wasn't overly excited about that before the season, but as the March trade deadline approaches, the Magic may have to soften their stance when it comes to Howard.

So we would have the Lakers shipping out Bynum, Gasol and a pair of first-round draft picks. In return, the Lakers would get Howard, and could afford to take on the contracts of both Hedo Turkoglu and Jameer Nelson, which gives the Magic the cap relief they are looking for.

Comparing the salaries going both ways, the trade works out.

The Lakers could even sweeten the pot by throwing in the likes of an Andrew Goudelock as a young player the Magic can take a shot on.

There is a deal there to be had for Howard if that's the route the Lakers want to take, but first they need to convince themselves that they want to really be buyers at the deadline and then they have to make their play for Howard.

A lot can happen between now and March. We'll see how aggressive Kupchak gets in an attempt to improve the team.