NBA Trade Rumors: Dwight Howard Must Give Magic GM a Chance

Regime changes usually happen for a reason in the NBA, but that fact appears to be lost upon Dwight Howard. Despite having a new general manager in charge, D12 still covets a trade away from the organization with which he's spent the entirety of his NBA career. 

According to ESPN's Ric Bucher, Rob Hennigan called the center and essentially begged him to give the new Orlando Magic GM another chance. Dwight would hear none of it, saying that he'd heard all of Hennigan's lines before. 

It's the latest ridiculous move in a long list of such occurrences for the All-World center. 

Howard must understand that he is a championship piece, one that can single-handedly lead a team to the playoffs and help the squad at least have a shot at a title. Obviously, he does understand that, otherwise we wouldn't see the same level of self-importance on his part. 

The part that he doesn't truly understand is that a new talent evaluator is in charge. Hennigan is the youngest general manager in the NBA and needs to be given a chance to at least attempt to put secondary pieces around Superman. 

Seeing as he only just stepped into his role—and inheriting an awful situation in the process—the mess that is the Magic right now is in no way his fault.

Dwight must at least give him a season to correct it. 

The best thing that Howard could do for his career right now would be to drop out of the news. He should go on the record and say that he intends to play out the remainder of his contract with Orlando and evaluate his options next summer.

But not before then. 

If anything, this mess is Howard's fault because of the inexplicable opt-in he signed during the season. It was his choice to remain in Orlando, not anyone else's. 

Now that he's contractually obligated to, you know, play basketball for the Magic, he should stop causing drama and do exactly that. It would be perfectly fine if he kept his ear to the ground and had a constant, steady stream of communication with Hennigan to see what are the organization's plans. 

As the season progresses, the two can re-evaluate how the team is doing—see how the beginning of the offseason is going. 

Then, once the legally binding contract is up, and he's truly a free agent and not just a self-made free agent, then he can pursue his options. 

All's fair in love and war, as the saying goes, but this is neither. It's business, and Hennigan hasn't been given a chance to even see his hand, much less play it, before he's being forced to fold by one of his cards.

At the end of the day, no matter how glamorous the situation may be, no matter how much star power Dwight may bring to the table, he is still one of those cards, and he's controlled by his general manager.

Howard isn't giving the new management a fair shake at all, something he needs to do if he's ever going to regain his popularity.

He doesn't have to stay. I'm not asking that from him. 

By all means, let him bolt to the Brooklyn Nets or some other team (Atlanta Hawks, please) if he can, but only once his contract is up. 

Just give Hennigan a chance first.