NBA Trade Rumors: Magic Shouldn't Cater to Howard by Acquiring Stephen Jackson
It's no secret that the Orlando Magic are in a tough spot with regard to whether they should trade away franchise center Dwight Howard or attempt to re-sign him in what may be a futile effort. Despite rumblings that Howard would like to play with Stephen Jackson, the Magic shouldn't cater to D12.
According to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, Jackson has said that he would love to play for the Magic, while Howard campaigned for the Magic to trade for Jackson during the offseason. The Milwaukee Bucks acquired him instead, but the marriage obviously hasn't been a good one.
Seeing as Howard has been childish and refused to make a commitment to the Magic, there is no reason for the organization to take a leap of faith for him at this point. Sure, Howard would like Jackson as his teammate, but would acquiring Jackson be enough to prompt Howard to sign an extension? I doubt it.
If the Magic trade for Jackson and Howard decides to bolt, then it causes a ton of problems for Orlando. For one, the Magic won't get anything in return for Howard. Also, they'll be stuck with Jackson's $10.5 million contract next season since they already used their amnesty cut on Gilbert Arenas.
Jackson has proved that he isn't exactly the best character guy either, so the odds of him sulking and ruining the team with negative energy are pretty high should Howard leave. If there were a guarantee that getting S-Jax would keep Howard in Orlando then it would obviously be a good move to make, but it just doesn't seem likely.
When Jackson's head is on straight he can be a great complementary scorer and a tough competitor, so he might have been a great acquisition for the Magic last year—but not now. The longer things go without any progress on the contract front, the less and less likely it becomes that Howard will be with Orlando beyond the trade deadline.
If a possible new deal isn't in place by the deadline in a couple of weeks, then the Magic will have no choice but to trade him. Losing Howard and getting nothing in return would be catastrophic to the organization, much like Shaquille O'Neal's departure was so many years ago.
Howard is the best center in the NBA by a wide margin and is putting together a Hall of Fame resume already, so he would fetch a vast array of promising players and draft picks in a trade. Losing Howard is going to hurt no matter what, but getting assets in return will at least soften the blow a bit.
It's becoming quite obvious that Howard would prefer to be elsewhere, so it's time for the Magic organization to stop kowtowing to him. Orlando needs to stop worrying about what he wants, and start worrying about what is best for the franchise.
The answer to that is clearly re-signing Howard, but it's probably time to look into alternatives. Dealing for Jackson might make Howard happy temporarily, but there are no guarantees, so the Magic need to end the charade by trading their non-committal star at the deadline.
