NBA Trade Rumors: Dwight Howard to Clippers Would End Lakers' Monopoly Over LA

Dwight Howard could easily end up in LA, but the Lakers aren't the only team in town who could make a run at the best big man in the league.

The Clippers already have one of the best young players in the league in Blake Griffin. By pairing Howard with Griffin, they could take over LA and he could forge his own path to being cemented in NBA lore, rather than follow in Shaq's footsteps and taking over for Kobe Bryant.

As Ken Berger of CBS points out in the video below, the Lakers have Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol to deal. While the Lakers are the lead candidate to obtain Howard's services, Berger points to the Clippers as the dark horse in the race.

The Clippers have always played second fiddle to the Lakers. Even with Griffin tearing up the hardwood and bursting onto the NBA scene, there is only one show in LA.

Howard would change all of that. The Lakers would no longer be the best ticket in town and with Kobe on the back end of his career, we could easily see a power shift with Howard and Griffin leading the way for the Clippers.

No piece on the Clippers should be seen as untouchable aside from Griffin and though the Lakers have more to work with, don't be surprised to see the Clippers make a strong push for Howard.

While he would obviously have a much bigger say over where he lands if the Magic allow him to hit free agency, he couldn't be upset by finding himself with either LA squad.

He gets the big market either way and though the history is rich with the Lakers, being able to write his own script and shake things up on the LA scene has to be appealing to Howard.

With two elite players of that caliber meeting at such a young age, they could form one of the best one-two punches in the entire NBA.