NBA Trade Speculation: 10 Teams with Enough Assets to Land Dwight Howard

The NBA lockout is here and isn't showing any signs of progress being made in negotiations, leaving fans with nothing but articles about the aforementioned lack of progress and articles about superstars possibly playing overseas.

However, the speculation and rumor mills keep on running like clockwork. This upcoming season marks the final year on Dwight Howard's contract, which has led to abject fear for Orlando Magic fans and a flooding of optimism from the fan bases of the other 29 teams. 

It seems unlikely that he would re-sign with the Magic after this season, barring a miracle championship season. Howard has the power to control his destiny in much the same way that Carmelo Anthony did this past season.

But which fans should be the most optimistic? After all, the Magic aren't just going to give Howard away—your team is going to need to have the right pieces in place to be able to pull off a trade to bring in the best center in the league today.

Miami Heat

How crazy of a trade would this be? After one season as the "Super Friends dynasty," the Miami Heat decide to shake things up by trading away Chris Bosh and Mike Miller.

Bosh looked out of place and downright lost at times in his first season with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. It was a struggle for him to find his role on a team where he had easily become the third option after making a career as the first.

By no means should Bosh be a first option on a team, but he would provide the Magic with excellent return value and give them someone to build around for the future.

New Jersey Nets

This trade is nearly impossible after the Nets gave up the farm to acquire Deron Williams this past season. The Nets are trying to load up for their big move to Brooklyn. Being able to trot Howard and Williams every night would be the start of great things for the franchise.

To pull off the trade the Nets would likely have to first accept another major contract in Hedo Turkoglu as part of the deal and send Brook Lopez, Anthony Morrow and Jordan Farmar. While the Magic clearly wouldn't be getting fair value in players returned to them, they would have just opened up a huge amount of cap space.

The team would be very different with Lopez in Howard's place and the Magic would need to bring in as much defensive help as they could get to compensate for the loss of one of the best defensive players in the league. 

Golden State Warriors

The Warriors wouldn't mind shipping off Stephen Curry or Monta Ellis. They are both great offensive talents, but are also both sieves on the defensive end of the floor. Curry has the cheaper contract so they would be more inclined to retain his services.

Ellis alone wouldn't be enough to bring in Howard, though, so the Warriors would need to throw in David Lee. Ellis is an elite scoring talent and Lee is an above average center in the league, providing Orlando with some solid new pieces to build another title contender with. 

New York Knicks

I know what you're thinking: How the heck are the Knicks going to get Dwight Howard? Amar'e Stoudemire was great this season with the Knicks, but his and Carmelo Anthony's playing styles don't work well together.

They're both guys that need to stop the ball and create a shot rather than being jump shooters. There's simply no time for anyone else on the floor to do things with the ball. Trading Stoudemire for Howard straight up is about as good a value as Orlando can expect to get in a straight-up swap.

Sacramento Kings

The Kings decide that DeMarcus Cousins could use a change of scenery and ship him, the newly acquired John Salmons and Jason Thompson off to Orlando. The move gives the Kings the point guard-center tandem of a budding Tyreke Evans and Howard to rise back to the top of the Western Conference.

Cousins is a young talent with the potential to eventually become a dominant player in the league, Salmons provides an OK replacement for the likely-to-depart Jason Richardson and Thompson helps fill in the now gaping hole at center.

Atlanta Hawks

Al Horford has proven himself to be a top talent in the league this past season and the versatile Josh Smith has done a fine job as well, but Atlanta's roster of middling talent hasn't been able to carry it to postseason success. 

Trading the two All-Star talents for Howard and J.J. Redick would be a boon for both teams. With Horford and Smith in the fold the drop-off in talent will have almost completely mitigated, while the Hawks would have the superstar talent they have lacked these past few seasons.

Los Angeles Clippers

While everyone's focus is on the Lakers being the LA team to reel in the superstar big man, the Clippers have enough young talent to jump into the trade rumor conversation as well.

The Clippers can offer up a trade of Eric Gordon, Al-Farouq Aminu and Chris Kaman. Gordon and Aminu are two solid players who each have untapped potential, while Kaman provides a slightly past-his-prime Kaman to take over at center. 

In return, the Clippers eat Hedo Turkoglu's bad contract while getting to pair Blake Griffin with Dwight Howard, making the Clippers an outright horror in the paint on both ends of the floor.

Oklahoma City Thunder

The Thunder are so talented at so many positions that this trade barely affects them positionally. The Thunder send a package of Kendrick Perkins (yes, again), James Harden, Serge Ibaka and a minimally priced player to bring in what would likely be the final piece to their NBA title puzzle.

If you thought Blake Griffin and Dwight Howard together was a bad dream, imagine the nightmare that Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and Howard would be together. The three would create a dynasty that would last for more than half a decade. 

All three players are young and would provide a strong base for the beginning of a new team. Obviously, none of them are capable of carrying the team, but they would provide an excellent supporting cast for any new elite talent they eventually bring in.

Chicago Bulls

In Tom Thibodeau's first season as the Bull's coach, the team surged well past expectations and finished with the best record in the league. During the course of the season there was a lot of speculation about whether the Bulls should trade Joakim Noah and Luol Deng for Carmelo Anthony.

Ultimately, the team refused to pull the trigger on the trade due to its unwillingness to part with Noah. But in this scenario it would be hard to see why the team would pass up on this deal: Carlos Boozer and Noah for Howard and J.J. Redick.

The trade gives Orlando one of the top five centers in the league in Noah and a still very offensively proficient Boozer to start its rebuilding process with. The Bulls, on the other hand, get to pair their MVP point guard Derrick Rose with the best center in the game, while replacing Boozer with fan favorite Taj Gibson. 

Los Angeles Lakers

You had to know the Lakers would be on this list. They've been at the forefront of the rumors and speculation since day one. There's so many variations of what the Lakers would need to send to Orlando in any trade for Howard that it might make your head hurt.

In this version the Lakers get Howard in exchange for Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom. When healthy, Bynum has proven capable of being perhaps the second best center in the league. The question of health is not to be taken lightly as Bynum is a definite injury risk, having missed time in each of the last three seasons. 

Odom is starting-caliber talent that comes off the bench in LA. For Orlando he gets a return to the starting lineup as a building block for the new regime of players in Orlando. For the Lakers, getting Howard extends their time as a title contender and gives them another superstar to build around when the venerable Kobe Bryant is forced to call it quits.