Dwight Howard Trade Rumors: Magic Must Man Up and Send D12 to Nets
Dwight Howard has thrown both fans and executives another curveball.
After being the subject of trade rumors all year long, particularly one in which he asked to be traded to the New Jersey Nets, ESPN's Michael Wallace has reported that Howard wants to stay in Orlando for the remainder of the season. The All-Star center also asked that the front office "roll the dice."
Naturally, there were oodles of reactions to Howard's remarks. Zach Lowe of SI.com called the reigning Defensive Player of the Year's words the "low point" of all the drama that has come with dealing him. Similarly, Ken Berger of CBS Sports noted that some of the team's higher-ups didn't take too kindly to Howard's words, but kept their mouths shut.
Simply put, the Howard drama simply has to stop, and the best thing the Magic can do for Howard and themselves is to just trade him to the Nets ASAP. The drama with the situation has gotten so high that even the Kardashians are probably judging the franchise from the outside.
The fact is that the relationship between Howard and the Magic front office has become similar to that of the beautiful girl next door who's infatuated with the jerky jock-type who'll only use and abuse her. She does a great job of convincing herself that they're meant to be together, while in the meantime he's off fooling around with other girls right in front of her. Still, she blinds herself to his behavior and thinks she can "fix" him.
Such is the case with Howard and team CEO Alex Martins, not to mention GM Otis Smith and team owner Rich DeVos. They're all hoping that they can re-sign the man who has been the face of their franchise to a long-term deal, but it's clearly not going to happen.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports said just yesterday how Howard's plan all along has been to leave Orlando for the Nets.
On top of that, ESPN's Stephen A. Smith said it best, noting how the Magic have had a deal with the Nets sitting in front of them the whole time. They've just been too naive to notice it.
Given the latest manipulative words from Howard, it's time for the Magic front office to start acting as such and start treating Howard like an employee and not some puppet master who controls how the team operates.
He's not going to stay in Orlando, and it's time for DeVos, Martins and Smith to accept it.
