NBA Trade Rumors: Steve Nash a Much Better Fit for Magic Than Monta Ellis

The whole world wants the Orlando Magic to trade Dwight Howard, but they apparently have other ideas.

On Wednesday, ESPN's Chris Broussard passed along word that the Magic have contacted the Golden State Warriors about Monta Ellis. Currently sixth in the league in scoring, Ellis is a scorer who could help take some pressure off Howard at the offensive end of the floor.

The Magic aren't limiting themselves to Ellis, though. Alex Kennedy of Hoops World reported that the Magic are also coveting Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash, who is currently leading the league in assists.

There's no doubt the Magic would like nothing more than to acquire both Nash and Ellis. They would then have one of the strongest starting fives in the Eastern Conference and could easily challenge the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls for conference supremacy.

I'm assuming acquiring both of them is improbable, if not impossible altogether. The Magic are only going to be able to get one of them.

Between Nash and Ellis, Nash is the player the Magic should have at the top of their wish list, and it's not even close.

Nash is definitely the harder of the two players to acquire. Despite the fact Nash is a free-agent-to-be, the Suns love him and would prefer to keep him, according to Kennedy. They're only going to trade Nash if he marches in and asks for a trade, and he's made it very clear that he's not going to do that.

Nevertheless, Nash also said that he's at least open to being traded:

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“I’m totally open if the team says they want to trade me, but my position is that I want to fight for these fans,” Nash said. “I’ve been here a long time. I’ve had a great experience. They’ve been great to me. My teammates are great. I don’t want to jump ship on them. I’m ready to fight it out. But if the team decided to trade me, I’d understand that."

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Nash should be open to a trade, and he should be even more open to joining the Magic and playing with Howard. If he wants to go to a team where he'll have a chance to compete for a championship, the Magic are his ticket.

Kennedy notes that Howard himself is pushing for the front office to add Nash, as well he should be. Nash would create all sorts of opportunities for Howard, and he's not a bad scorer in his own right. The Magic would be in particularly good shape if they managed to acquire Nash without giving up three-point specialist Ryan Anderson.

Adding Ellis would improve the Magic too, but only to a degree. Ellis showed earlier this season that he's not totally hopeless as an assist artist (he was one of the top assist men in the league for a stretch), but scoring is his forte. He needs the ball in his hands a lot, and he gets that with the Warriors. He's currently third in the league with an average of 19.3 shot attempts per game.

That amount of activity wouldn't work as well on the Magic. Ellis would have to make sure Howard got his share of touches, which would lead to a tough integration process that could throw both players off their game. Even if the experiment were to work, adding Ellis would not make the Magic better than the Heat, who are the team to beat in the East.

In the end, it boils down to something every last one of us have been wondering about for years: Just how good would the Magic be if they paired a top point guard with Howard?

They'd certainly be better than they already are, and it's worth noting that this Magic team is better than many people figured it would be. They've shown that they can compete with the top teams in the league. Add Nash to the equation, and they will be able to beat the best teams in the league.

Once again, acquiring Nash is not going to be easy. He's going to have to give in to a trade, and the Magic are going to have to figure out a way to get him without gutting their roster in the process. 

Acquiring Nash wouldn't guarantee a championship, but it would put the Magic in the conversation. Just as important, the possibility of Nash staying in Orlando would be helpful in convincing Howard to stay.

If there's one guy worth making a push for, it's Nash.