Magic Trade Rumors: Three-Team Deal Is Only Real Scenario to Move Dwight Howard

The Orlando Magic are going to be the losers in any deal involving Dwight Howard. That's going to be the case in most scenarios where you lose a 26-year-old center who's already made six All-Star teams and won three Defensive Player of the Year Awards, but that doesn't mean every possibility is equally bad.

Some are better than others. The proposed deal with the Brooklyn Nets was bad. The three-way deal with the Lakers and Houston Rockets doesn't sting as much. ESPN's Marc Stein gave some relevant details in his report Wednesday evening.

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The key elements of the three-team proposal, sources said, call for the Lakers to acquire Howard and the Rockets -- realizing their long-running quest to acquire a top-20 player -- to take back the mercurial Bynum as he enters the final year of his contract.

It's believed that Houston would have to absorb the contract of Magic swingman Jason Richardson and perhaps another unpalatable contract or two to complete a trade directly with the Magic for Howard or to get Bynum. Central to the Rockets' offer is a 2013 first-round draft pick that they'll soon acquire from the Toronto Raptors as part of a verbally agreed trade last week that will send guard Kyle Lowry to Toronto. Houston also has movable veterans Luis Scola and Kevin Martin to sweeten any trade proposal.

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This trade still has a lot of unknown factors, but it makes more sense than the deal with Brooklyn. Orlando wasn't guaranteed to re-sign Brook Lopez. Luis Scola is under contract through 2014-15 and would be a solid replacement in the low post.

The Magic are going to get a number of first-round picks just like they would have if they had done the deal with Brooklyn. They will still unload a few bad contracts, and they still pick up players far inferior to Howard on both ends of the floor, but they get a player who is already under contract (Scola) and the chance to re-sign a deadly scorer (Martin).

It would also benefit Orlando in other ways. Think about the Nets with Deron Williams, Joe Johnson and Gerald Wallace already in place. If you add Howard to the mix you just created another "super team." No one wants to see that, and it certainly wouldn't benefit the Magic.

The idea of sending Howard to the Western Conference should intrigue them. They won't have to see him often, and they won't have to get past him to get into the playoffs.

Sending Howard to Los Angeles could be a backhanded punishment. When Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash retire, the Lakers may not be the Lakers. You would like to think Laker brass would build around Howard, but we can't predict the future.

This deal makes sense from a physical, and emotional, standpoint. The Magic play next season with Jameer Nelson, Luis Scola and Kevin Martin as their key players. That's not a great team, but still better than some.

Rob Hennigan can use the plethora of draft picks to build for the future, and the Magic can rest easy knowing that Howard isn't sitting next to them in the Eastern Conference standings.

It's going to sting anytime you lose a player of Howard's caliber, but it's time to bite the bullet if you're Hennigan.

A three-way deal would be the perfect ending to a wacky saga, and it's the right move.