Lakers Trade Rumors: LA Can't Afford to Wait Until Dwight Howard Drama Ends

The Los Angeles Lakers need to make a couple moves before the trade deadline to get the team back on track before playoff time. If they keep waiting for Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic to work things out, however, they're are going to get burned.

Howard has the Lakers on the shortlist of teams where he'd consider making a long-term commitment but has apparently been turned off by some alleged comments by Kobe Bryant.

Sam Amick of Sports Illustrated provides the details:

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Among the many complications here is that any and all hopes of landing Lakers center Andrew Bynum—the best big man in the league to fill the Howard void—appear to be dashed because of Howard's view of the Lakers.

Close friends of Howard say he was, in fact, informed that Bryant sees him as a second or third option on a championship-caliber team if he came to Los Angeles. And while the stance has its merits on the surface, it simply didn't help matters to engage in any sort of alpha dog discussion if that's what indeed went down.

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The Lakers are Bryant's team, plain and simple. If Howard thought differently before placing the Lakers on his list, he's crazy.

Adding him to the mix would provide a big boost to the Lakers at both ends of the floor, as it would for any team, but this ongoing mess should have them looking elsewhere to make deals. It's no guarantee Howard will be moved at all, let alone getting past not being the main man.

It might actually work out better for Los Angeles in the long run if general manager Mitch Kupchak is able to swing a deal for an impact point guard instead.

There has been talk about a potential deal with the Houston Rockets for Kyle Lowry and Luis Scola in exchange for Pau Gasol. It's a deal with a lot more immediate upside for the Lakers than any massive deal they'd have to pull off for Howard.

As the deadline gets a little closer the market will open up, as well. That means more point guards should become available to replace the ineffective duo of Derek Fisher and Steve Blake.

What became painfully obvious during the season’s first half is that the Lakers need some changes to revitalize not only the players, but the city as well. They have been overshadowed by the Clippers, which has been unheard of over the past decade.

Howard could have been a quick fix, but the situation has turned out to be anything but quick. It's time for the Lakers to abandon that pursuit before they waste any more valuable time prior to the deadline and start working on other deals. The roster needs upgrades sooner rather than later.

Let another general manager deal with the Howard headaches for awhile.