Dwight Howard Trade Rumors: Lakers Willing to Trade Bynum for "Right Deal"

Jim Buss has announced he would be willing to trade Lakers' center Andrew Bynum for "the right deal," spurring trade rumors that would send Dwight Howard to the Lakers, Ken Berger of CBS Sports is reporting. 

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It's no surprise to anyone that the Lakers will be one of the primary suitors in a possible trade for Howard, and a person with knowledge of the team's strategy told CBSSports.com that executive Jim Buss finally has dropped his opposition to trading center Andrew Bynum "for the right deal." That's code for "a deal for Dwight Howard," and it's clear from those familiar with Howard's thinking that he'd like to join the Lakers. Bynum may or may not be on the Magic's list of suitable replacements for Howard in a potential deal that also would have to include young players on rookie contracts and draft picks. The Bucks' Andrew Bogut may be a better fit, a notion that has conjured speculation in the agent community of a three-team deal that would land Bynum in Milwaukee, Bogut in Orlando and Howard in L.A.

The Lakers' arena mates at Staples Center, the Clippers, also are believed to be willing to do whatever it takes to get Howard. The Clips have both the cap space to land Howard next summer and plenty of assets to entice Orlando, including Eric Gordon, Al-Farouq Aminu and a signed-and-traded DeAndre Jordan. Cap-space and asset-wise, few teams are in as good a shape as the Clippers over the next two years. If only they could use the amnesty provision on owner Donald Sterling.

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There's a cloud behind that silver lining if you're a Lakers' fan, though. It's apparent form that report that Bynum is not enough for the Magic to make the deal. Perhaps they aren't as willing to put their entire future on a player who has played one 82-game season in six years. Apart from that he has averaged 50 games a year. 

The question now becomes, what motivation does Milwaukee have to trade its star center? One could argue that while Bogut has shown a bit more stability than Bynum, Bogut has hardly been an iron man of the NBA himself. 

Certainly there is a lot to be said said for what the Bucks can do. They have better young players they are willing to deal and they have a huge advantage in cap space they can work with. They also have Minnesota's first-round pick, which is almost guaranteed to be worth something big. 

The there is the New Jersey Nets, as Berger notes, who have already put up Brook Lopez and two first-round picks, as well as an offer to absorb Hedo Turkoglu's massive contract. 

The advantage Lakers' fans will be pointing to, though, is that they have the best chance at getting Howard to agree to an extension. While there's probably no question Howard would readily extend to play for the Lakers, a future of playing with the likes of Deron Williams or Blake Griffin for years to come might be more appealing than the the at-most three good years that Kobe Bryant has left to offer. 

In other words, while the Lakers' extension would be a sure thing, an extension with the Nets or Clippers cannot be ruled out. Additionally, Mikhail Prokhorov has shown before that he'll make a deal with no promise of an extension. I wouldn't rule out him making the trade, putting him together with Williams for a season and showing him how great it would be to have an All-Star point guard feeding him the ball. 

The other question surrounding this is what happens to the point guard position for the Lakers. It might be a bit premature for the Lakers to occupy themselves with a trade they don't really need to make. Bynum, when healthy, is probably the second-best center in the league. Fisher might be the worst starting point guard in the league. 

It might behoove the Lakers to spend more time worrying about how to acquire a huge upgrade at point guard in Chris Paul and worry less over a slight upgrade at center in Dwight Howard.