NBA Trade Rumors: Impact Dwight Howard Has on Rumored Teams

With all the trade rumors swirling around Dwight Howard and the different teams interested in him, it is worth taking a moment to stop and consider how he would affect the various teams he could land on, both in the long and short term. 

Los Angeles Lakers: If the Lakers could land him it would most likely be in exchange for Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom. That's an offer that apparently didn't sit well initially with Orlando, but there's always the possibility that Howard could force a trade.

Now, obviously Howard is going to make any team he is on a great deal better immediately, but arguably he would have the least amount of impact on the Lakers right away for two reasons. First, the Lakers aren't weak in the middle, particularly when Bynum is healthy. 

Second, the addition of Bynum doesn't address the team's primary need which is point guard. Enter Chris Paul. If the Lakers could land both, you could make an argument they had the top point guard, top center and top wing in the NBA. That would easily put them as the best "big three" in the game and the top favorite win it all. 

In the long term, adding Howard would have more impact for the Lakers. It would secure a new "centerpiece" for the Lakers' future. It also would mark a transition from one Lakers team to another. 

New Jersey Nets: You could make an argument that no team would be more impacted than the Nets if they were to land Dwight Howard. Since Mikhail Prokhorov took over the ownership of the team, he's made it a mission to have the team take over New York. 

Adding Deron Williams was a major step in that direction and Dwight Howard would arguably make the Nets the best team in New York, in spite of the addition of both Amar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony to the Knicks last season.

The initial impact is minuscule to the long-term impact though. Adding Howard to the Nets would go a long way towards ensuring their star point guard, Deron Williams, would stick around for more years. Having Williams and Howard together would make the Nets the strongest team at the 1 and 5 since the Lakers had Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. 

Orlando Magic: The forgotten team in the Dwight Howard sweepstakes is the Orlando Magic. Having already lost one Hall of Fame center to the Los Angeles Lakers, if the Magic could retain Howard it would be huge for the franchise. 

What would be even more huge is that if they were to keep him, it would mean they did something worth doing so. As of right now, there's nothing substantive to indicate they are trying to do something, but sometimes the best trades are the ones you don't hear about until they are announced (see Deron Williams last year.)

There are some reports though that they are not just letting him go. In fact they have "pledged publicly that they’ll do everything they can" to keep him.

Other teams who have been linked to the Magic but more in the realm of speculation than actual rumors are the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Clippers. Since this is mere speculation, I'm going to reserve more discussion on them until and if it becomes more than that.