Dwight Howard: How the Big Trade Sets Up Kobe Bryant vs. LeBron James in 2013

Everyone is probably sick of hearing the big news. Dwight Howard is coming to the Los Angeles Lakers in a massive four-team deal. 

The Lakers are unsurprisingly the latest flavor of the month in an NBA media culture predicated on speculation and adoration on the newest "superteam." It was only a matter of time before Hollywood made like South Beach and Boston had before it, mashing together a slew of franchise players and All-Stars, reminding us that your team is doomed if you're in Cleveland or Milwaukee.

Let's forgo all the useless speculation about whether the Lakers are the best team in the West. They will be now. Let's also forgo all the useless speculation about whether the Miami Heat can reach the NBA Finals again.

Let's just cut to the chase and talk about what needs to happen. The Heat and the Lakers need to meet in the NBA Finals next year.

Between the two retro Lakers-Boston Celtics Finals we've had in the last five years, LeBron James' meltdown and ultimate triumph have rendered the NBA Finals a "ratings boon" for ABC, and helped the NBA survive through the tough economy.

And whatever success any Finals series in the last five years have had would pale in comparison to Lakers-Heat 2013.

The storylines are literally endless. It presents us with a real consummation of the greatest rivalry that's never happened. Ever since LeBron matured in Cleveland and Kobe Bryant ascended to the top without Shaquille O'Neal, people have compared the two and dissected the tale of the tape as to who is better. It resulted in Kobe saying this piece of juicy smack-talk.

I don't know if Kobe can beat LeBron one-on-one with his eyes closed. But could he and Steve Nash take on LeBron and Dwyane Wade two-on-two in the last two minutes of a close game?

That's the kind of stuff we stand to see in this matchup. This is an era of superteams and big-market teams, and we'd finally be able to see who is the best of the best. We'd get to see the most talent assembled on a basketball court in a meaningful game since the mid-80s.

Realize that Kobe and LeBron have never ever met in a meaningful game before. No, a Christmas Day regular season matchup doesn't cut it. 

LeBron just won his first title, and Kobe has five. From a historical context, this matchup would present both of them with a sizeable canvas for the book of their legacy.

A win for Kobe would mean that elusive sixth title and on par with the man he truly considers to be his rival—Michael Jordan. It would represent the best team he's ever beaten in the Finals. More than that, Kobe's been bucking the age trend since he came onto this side of 30. He's supposed to have flamed out by now, and he's proven us wrong.

In this series, he would be "supposed" to be a building block that LeBron could defeat to climb his legacy, almost like a pro wrestler "putting over" a younger star. 

Cliches claiming that he'll never be better than Jordan are what drive Kobe. LeBron, on the other hand, has gotten the media monkey off his back by winning his first title and defeating Kevin Durant's Oklahoma City Thunder. But it'd be foolish to say that he's off the hook now. A matchup with Kobe's Lakers would place the media scope right back on LeBron.

Perhaps the biggest cause for urgency is the timing. Kobe is nearing 34 and LeBron is just hitting his prime, which obviously doesn't overlap much with Kobe's. It's also unclear whether Dwight Howard will even be in Los Angeles after this season. Steve Nash and Pau Gasol are not young, and Dwyane Wade's reckless style won't last forever.

The half-life on the superteam concept in Los Angeles and Miami is shorter than one thinks. Let's hope that there's a cataclysmic matchup between Kobe and LeBron before this dream matchup decays away.