Dwight Howard Trade Rumors: Los Angeles Lakers Should Target Chris Paul Instead

There has been a lot of talk about the Lakers pursuing Dwight Howard in a trade, but they should be going after Chris Paul for a few reasons.

Let me qualify all of this with the fact that I think Los Angeles is going to have a hard time making a trade for either. The players they have to offer are either too old or too delicate, so I think that other teams would be able to offer better packages than the Lakers can. 

Having said that, there's three reasons that the Lakers might be better off moving for Paul than Howard.

First, they would be able to attain Paul at a lower price. 

Most projections for Paul are that they would be able to obtain him for an even trade with Pau Gasol.

The ESPN Trade Machine calculates the difference in this trade to plus-five wins for the Lakers.

The most commonly discussed trade: Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom for Howard and JJ Redick, the Trade Machine projects to plus-three wins for the Lakers. 

So, at least according to the Trade Machine, the New Orleans trade is better.

Now granted (and yet I will be clobbered in the comments section with this argument) the Trade Machine projection is hardly gospel, but it is clearly in favor of either trade from the Lakers' perspective.

So the first reason is that, at least according to the Trade Machine, Paul adds more wins.

Secondly, it would require less for the Lakers in terms of giving up players.

Less player movement when you're already changing head coaches is a good thing. The players already know one another and know how to play together. 

Furthermore, the type of player movement makes more sense.

Without Phil Jackson, the Lakers will likely run a more conventional offense, and Derek Fisher is not going to cut it as a leader of this team.

Adding a true facilitator makes more sense.

If Andrew Bynum is worth Dwight Howard, he is worth keeping. Derek Fisher is just not worth keeping at this stage in his career. 

Third, it makes more sense because Lamar Odom could easily step into the starting power forward role. Odom has long been one of the best bench players in the league and his coronation with the Sixth Man of the Year Award last year was a no-brainer. 

Having a starting five with Paul, Kobe Bryant, Metta World Peace or whoever takes his place, Odom and Bynum would be a better starting five than Fisher, Bryant, World Peace, I Don't Know and Dwight Howard.

In essence a Paul trade leaves one question mark in the lineup while the Howard trade leaves three. 

The Lakers would win more, sacrifice less and leave less holes pursuing a Chris Paul trade than pursing a Dwight Howard trade.

It's unlikely they'll pull off either, but if you're going to dream, dream smart.