NBA Rumors: Specter of Tampering Will Kill Dwight Howard to Nets Trade Prospects

As if the saga of Orlando’s efforts to retain or deal Dwight Howard wasn’t already complicated enough, a potential new wrinkle has emerged. Some of the teams angling for the All-Star center may have tried to skirt the rules to land him.

NBA.com reports that the Magic are considering filing tampering charges against two teams with regard to Howard. According to SI.com (via Twitter), Orlando is expected not to pursue one of those sets of charges—against the Houston Rockets—but the other, against the New Jersey Nets, is still being investigated.

Even if the Magic don’t find enough evidence to put together a tampering case, the mere possibility ought to be the last straw as far as any deal with New Jersey goes. That goes double if, as the NBA.com story suggests, Howard is about to ask the Magic to move him to the Nets specifically.

Orlando was apparently (and rightly) unimpressed with New Jersey’s offer of Brook Lopez and draft picks for the NBA’s best center. Setting aside the fact that the Magic really shouldn’t trade Howard at all (assuming they have even a minute chance of re-signing him), the Nets of all teams certainly don’t have the pieces to make such a deal palatable.

Now, with the suspicion that the Nets have been courting Howard in defiance of NBA rules, the Magic have even more incentive to ignore any overtures from that team. It’s far from a sure thing that Howard goes anywhere this season, but there’s no earthly reason that the Magic would want to send him to New Jersey given all the factors stacked against that deal now.