Andrew Bynum: Center Won't Be Worth the One-Year Rental for Sixers

The Lakers won. They've been working at it all summer, but they finally got (at least, we think they got) what they've wanted all long: Dwight Howard. 

Sources told ESPN.com's Marc Stein on Thursday night that a deal that will send Howard to L.A. is done. One source told Stein that the deal will send Andre Iguodala to the Nuggets, Andrew Bynum and Jason Richardson to the 76ers and Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington Nikola Vucevic and "a protected future first-round pick from each of the three teams" to the Magic.

According to the source, the Magic also will receive Moe Harkless, whom the Sixers drafted with the No. 15 overall pick in this year's draft.

So the Sixers get Andrew Bynum—for a year, until his contract expires.

And then what? And at what cost?

As we've seen from the way things have transpired in the NBA over the last few years—when teams stocked with talent, like the Lakers and the Heat, have been the teams nobody can compete with—you cannot win a title with one player.

Just ask Dwight Howard. There is nobody who proved better than he did that one elite player does not make a championship team. These days, you need three elite players, and even then, a title is no sure thing.

The Sixers now have their elite-ish player in Bynum. They essentially get a one-year rental of a good center. But are they better off this season than they were in 2011-12? Not by much.

It has long been assumed that Bynum won't sign a long-term extension with any team except the Lakers. Objectively, you have to think that includes the Sixers, a team that hasn't made it past the Eastern Conference semifinals since 2001-02.

The only way Bynum would realistically commit himself long-term to a team that is miles away from being a definite contender is if the Sixers miraculously won the NBA title this year. Or if they promised him they'd bring in the best guard in the league next offseason.

It doesn't seem like either of those things are going to happen, especially now that the Sixers have given up a couple of young, promising prospects and the player who's been their centerpiece for the last eight seasons. In exchange for Iguodala, Harkless and Vucevic, the Sixers will receive one year's worth of Bynum and the bloated contract of veteran Richardson.

For a year, the Sixers will get to see what it's like to have Bynum. They'll have the opportunity to see if he'll help them get a leg up on the Celtics, the Knicks and the Nets in the Atlantic Division. And at the end of the year, Bynum will almost certainly be gone to test the free-agent market and commit himself to a bona fide contender, while Philadelphia will be left in a similar position to the one it faced yesterday, before Bynum was headed to town.

Except it will also be without Iguodala and its 2012 first-round draft pick.

There have been rumblings, according to ESPN.com, that Philly is the ideal destination for someone like Bynum, who is eager to spread his wings and establish himself as the veteran-ish leader of a young team. 

For all parties involved, let's hope that's the case. If not, the Sixers are going to be just another mediocre (and slightly older) team with a disgruntled frontcourt centerpiece. 

Oh, and they'll have Richardson's contract, too.