Dwight Howard Trade Rumors: Orlando Magic Wise to Gamble Franchise on Superman

The Orlando Magic continue to live the life of dreamers, fully confident they can re-sign Dwight Howard. I am finally willing to jump on board the loony bin. 

Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reports on Dwight Howard, the Orlando Magic and the March 15th deadline for a clear answer to the franchise's biggest question to be answered. 

For now, the Magic are being quite clear with NBA teams that they are buyers, not sellers. Wojnarowski writes: 

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The March 15 trade deadline is approaching, and the Magic are still telling teams to spare them the trade calls unless they’re offering a player to join Howard.

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This echoes something we heard from ESPN's John Hollinger in late February. The NBA analyst writes on the Magic's owner and his hopes to keep Howard in Orlando. 

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Here's the operative question that I haven't heard anybody answer with any conviction: How are the Magic going to convince their 85-year-old owner that it's time to rebuild? Until I hear a compelling case for why Rich DeVos wouldn't try to ride out the Dwight Howard Era for all its worth, I'll remain skeptical about Howard's chances of being traded by March 15.

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All signs point to the Magic seeing March 15th come and go with Howard failing to leave the only team he has known. 

I hated the lack of a trade a couple months ago, but am growing quite fond of it heading to the deadline. The simple fact is Howard may very well have his best option with his current team. 

The Magic are winning ballgames and are sitting pretty in the third spot in the Eastern Conference. It's a far better fate than would welcome Howard in a trade to New Jersey. 

Wojnarowski writes that Howard's preferred destination remains the Nets, but there haven't been any substantial discussions that way between the clubs. 

In the offseason, the two teams that will go hard for Howard are the Mavericks and Nets. As Wjonarowski points out, the Mavs first have to secure a deal to drop Shawn Marion's heavy contract. 

If not, that leaves the Nets who are not guaranteed to retain the services of Deron Williams. If the star point guard leaves, Brooklyn looks far less desirable as a future contender. 

That leaves Orlando and the max money they can give Howard. It also gives him a team that continues to be one of the best in the East. 

The Magic played this one perfectly because they very well may end up keeping Howard after all—something that just didn't seem plausible a few weeks ago. 

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