Dwight Howard Trade Rumors: Warriors Insane to Try for Howard Without Extension

The Golden State Warriors are one of the many teams vying to acquire Dwight Howard, but they are downright foolish to try and trade for the NBA's best center without him agreeing to a contract extension. 

If the Orlando Magic do indeed trade Howard before the March 15 deadline, the team that gets him will need to lock him up to a blockbuster deal since he's heading into free agency this summer. 

According to Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com, the Warriors intend on pursuing Howard whether or not he will agree to a long-term deal. 

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Warriors continuing push for Dwight Howard deal even without DH commitment to re-signing. Not backing off from risky move, source says.

— Scott Howard-Cooper (@SHowardCooper) February 28, 2012"

Striving to get Howard before the deadline is perfectly fine, but knowing he won't commit to the team beyond the second half of this season makes the Warriors downright crazy.  

Currently three games out of eighth place in the Western Conference, Golden State would be destroying its team for a rental player. Making a move for Howard would almost ensure that the team will be awful next year. 

The Warriors best trade piece is Monta Ellis, whom they shopped prior to the NBA lockout last summer. They could get away with losing him and paring Howard with Stephen Curry, but the Magic are going to want much more.

This would actually be a genius move for the Magic if they could lure Dwight back to Orlando over the summer. In that case, the Magic would have Howard and one of the top players from the Warriors. 

However, that is highly unlikely to happen because if Dwight is testing the free-agent market as expected, teams like the New Jersey Nets, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers will have much more success signing him than Orlando. 

They are more enticing destinations, which is why the Magic need to deal Howard. There's no point in them being stubborn only to watch their star player walk away and leave them with nothing in return. 

Since Golden State would be giving up a great deal to get Howard, the 6'11", 265 pound center would almost assuredly avoid signing an extension with the Warriors. 

He would be going from a decent team to a mediocre team, so it's a no-brainer that he would look elsewhere. After all, his goal is to win a championship, and if it isn't happening with the Magic, it definitely is not happening with the Warriors.

Perhaps this is just a ploy by Golden State to heat up the Howard trade talk. Maybe the Warriors are doing a favor for the Magic, increasing the demand for Howard so other teams will up their offer. 

That's the only logical reason for this because the Warriors would be insane to dismantle their entire team for someone that won't even play with them for an entire season.