Chris Paul Traded to the Lakers: Why Dwight Howard Is Next to Head West

Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak has one rather significant piece of business to attend to before he can truly appreciate all the hugs and expressions of adulation he's due for bringing Chris Paul to Los Angeles.

He must pry Dwight Howard for the Orlando Magic.

And, yes, at this point, it's a must.

With Pau Gasol in Houston, Lamar Odom in New Orleans and Andrew Bynum sitting out the first five games of the 2011-12 NBA season for his bush-league slam of Dallas' JJ Barea in the Western Conference Semifinals, the Lakers will have only Metta World Peace, Derrick Caracter and Matt Barnes to fill their front court against the Chicago Bulls on Christmas Day.

Good luck to that trio handling Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson and Omer Asik for 48 minutes.

Of course, having CP3 pressuring Derrick Rose on the perimeter should help, but that's beside the point.

The issue here is that the Lakers went from having three (near) seven-footers to having one. Granted, they'd still only have one if they flipped Bynum to Orlando for Dwight Howard.

But Howard, unlike Bynum, has proven that he can fill the paint for a full season on both ends of the court. Howard is the three-time reigning Defensive Player of the Year, during which time he's made vast improvements in his offensive repertoire.

Not that he'll necessarily need to carry the offensive load on a team with Kobe and CP3. He will, however, need to hold down the fort up front, with only a hodgepodge of journeymen and kids backing him up.

There are still some questions to be answered about who (or what) else is coming to LA.

As ESPN's Larry Coon pointed out, Gasol's salary is already larger than Paul's, and throwing Odom into the mix means that the Hornets and/or the Rockets will need to send some mix of trade exceptions, players and/or picks to make the deal work under the new collective bargaining agreement. 

Before the Lakers can worry about how they'll keep Howard fresh they must concern themselves with getting him to the Staples Center.

That's still forthcoming and there's no word yet as to whether Howard has told Magic GM Otis Smith that he wants out, at least not with as much force as Paul did with Hornets GM Dell Demps last week.

But if the Lakers are going to be anything close to a complete team, they'll need a post presence like Howard to balance out their fantastic backcourt.

With the Bulls coming to town and the bench already emptied, it's time for Kupchak to wield his magic wand again and give the Lakers their own basketball triumvirate.

Follow @J0shMart1n