NBA Rumors: Houston Rockets Had Much Better Deal on Table for Dwight Howard

Dwight Howard is no longer an Orlando Magic superstar. The deal is final, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Did the Magic get the best deal for their biggest star? Howard is on the move to the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Orlando Magic are left in the wake to rebuild.

By waiting so long to execute a deal, the Magic squandered several better options.

As of Thursday, Sports Illustrated reported that the Magic still preferred the Houston Rockets’ proposal for Howard even while discussing the eventual four-team deal that sent Howard to the Lakers.

The deal would have garnered the Magic a probable future lottery pick, more future first-round picks, potential proven NBA-caliber talent in Rockets players (Kevin Martin, Patrick Patterson, Marcus Morris) and the rights to one or more of last month's first-round picks: Jeremy Lamb, Royce White and Terrence Jones.

ESPN.com writer John Hollinger posed the idea that the Rockets deal on the table was much better than what the Magic ended up taking.

"

Based on what I've been told Houston pretty clearly had a better offer -- including a guaranteed lotto pick. Frustrating day for Rox.

— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) August 10, 2012"

What did the Magic get and give away in the deal? Obviously, they sent their superstar center Howard to Hollywood. They also shed some contracts in moving guards Jason Richardson and Chris Duhon and forward Earl Clark in the process.

The Magic brought in Arron Afflao, Al Harrington, Nik Vucevic, rookie Maurice Harkless and protected draft picks from the other three teams. Protected—that means if a team finishes within range of the lottery, they will not receive that team’s pick.

If this is true, and the Magic lost all of that and didn’t get Pau Gasol in the process, new Magic general manager Rob Hennigan would have to be to blame for this debacle. Wouldn’t he?

Hollinger muses about rumors he’s heard that Hennigan may have had to fall in rank behind team president Alex Martins on this decision.

"

Go easy on Hennigan. Hearing Orl Pres Alex Martins likely ran this one. Always good to have non-bball folks make critical decision.

— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) August 10, 2012"

Whether or not Hennigan had the final say in this deal, he still failed to pull the trigger earlier in a deal with the Brooklyn Nets that would have benefited the team greatly. In that deal, the team would have received Brook Lopez, MarShon Brooks and three future first-round picks in exchange for Howard.

Magic fans should be outraged at the front office of their favorite team. They had one of the biggest trade chips in recent history and what have they got in return for it?

Draft picks and stop-gaps.

Not impact players who are going to mend the bleeding now, but possibly can in the future. 

Follow Mike on Twitter @BigHoagowski