NBA Trade Rumors: What's Holding Up Dwight Howard Deal and Why It Shouldn't

As the Dwight Howard saga enters what seems like its five-billionth stage, the Orlando Magic are starting to go beyond doing their due diligence in trade talks.

After a report by Yahoo! Sports' Marc J. Spears said that Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak and Magic general manager Rob Hennigan were set to meet about Howard Tuesday, many thought we were on the brink of the end.

But alas, ESPNLosAngeles.com is now reporting that no such meeting took place and the rumors were yet another mirage for fans.

Forgive the frankness, but we're at the point where this is asinine.  There's no logical reason for the hold-up at this stage.  We know the Lakers and Houston Rockets are the interested teams and what both can offer.  

Yet somehow, we're still in this purgatorial state where a bunch of small things are holding things up. 

Here's a look at the "snags" of this deal and the reasons why they're asinine:

1. Howard's Willingness to Sign an Extension with His New Team

It's long since been known that D12's desire was to join Deron Williams and play with the Brooklyn Nets.  After months of saying that privately, Howard finally came out in public and told Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski that there was only one team on his wish list.

"There’s only one team on my list and if I don’t get traded there, I'll play the season out and explore my free agency after that."

That was nearly three weeks ago.  In the time since, Brooklyn gave up their pursuit of Howard and opted to re-sign incumbent center Brook Lopez for $61 million.  

So unless D12 is going to play out the 2012-13 season and sign with the Nets for the tax payer's mini-mid-level exception (around $3 million), Brooklyn isn't happening.

If Howard wants out of Orlando as desperately as it seems, Los Angeles and Houston are his only two options. 

2. Foolish Hope

Despite D12's many proclamations that he wants out of Orlando, Hennigan is seemingly still holding out hope for a Howard reversal.

After the Nets signed the aforementioned Lopez extension, Hennigan called Howard once again in an attempt to convince him to stay.

According to ESPN.com's Ric Bucher, here's what transpired:  

"

Hennigan, the source said, based his plea on the fact that he was new to the organization and had not been party to the issues that drove Howard to make his trade request.

Team president Alex Martins, who also was on the call, the source said, made a similar plea to Howard last winter when Martins took control of basketball decisions over GM Otis Smith and coach Stan Van Gundy.

Howard was not willing to change his stance, the source said.

"I already heard that from the other guy on the phone," said Howard, according to the source.

"

It's not exactly stepping out on a limb to say calling a team executive "the other guy" should be an indication of Howard's interest in staying with the Magic.  

At this point, only a hostage situation could keep Howard in Orlando past his contractual obligations, so Hennigan should take the hint and move on.  

3. Bad Contracts

As it currently stands, the Magic have $69.1 million remaining on the sunk-cost quadrangle of Glen Davis, Hedo Turkoglu, Chris Duhon and Jason Richardson.  

For Orlando to feel comfortable dealing the NBA's best center, Hennigan needs to rid the organization of at least three of those players.

Luckily, a three-way deal that sends Howard to the Lakers, Andrew Bynum to the Rockets and the Magic to the NBA basement could theoretically work.  

Even after accounting for Jeremy Lin, the Rockets still have over $30 million in available cap space and would be able to ship the expiring contract of Kevin Martin along with a plethora of young talent to Orlando.

While lacking in cap space, the Lakers could absorb Richardson, Davis or Duhon by compiling each of their expiring contracts.  

If Houston is comfortable taking on Turkoglu and two others in exchange for a long-term Bynum commitment, this could be a situation where each team involved wins.

It's time for everyone to pull the trigger, end this saga and move on.