Dwight Howard to Nets: Lakers' Stupidity Will Send D12 to the Nets

Mitch Kupchak doesn’t know that one dollar is worth more than three quarters.

The only way that the Los Angeles Lakers’ offseason could’ve begun worse is if Mike Brown inserted Luke Walton back into the starting lineup…say what?!  Nevermind…  After David Stern turned down not one, but two trade proposals for Chris Paul, Lamar Odom wanted out of LA after being used as bait in each deal.  Most analysts’ instant reaction to the trade to the Dallas Mavericks was that the Lakers were dealing Odom to set themselves up for a Dwight Howard-blockbuster trade.

That may be the case, but their pursuit of the All-World center looks like it will end in failure.  According to Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register, Los Angeles is unwilling to surrender both Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol in a deal for Dwight.  Because of that clinginess, the New Jersey Nets look like they have D12 all locked up.

A roller coaster-like start to LA's offseason may just ruin their year.  Instead of possessing three big men in Gasol, Bynum and Odom with the flexibility to offer Orlando two of the trio, only a pair now remains and Kupchak isn’t willing to lose three bigs for Howard.  The Lakers should roll the dice and throw in Bynum and Gasol, though.

Losing the Sixth Man of the Year for virtually nothing will without a doubt cause LA to take a step back. Trading a center that could go down with a knee injury at any time along with a power forward that happened to be the scapegoat of last year's second-round sweep is justified for a top-five player that has no true competition at his position.

And by the way, isn’t it ironic that the Mavericks had to give up so little for The Candy Man?  Like taking candy from a baby.

Seven words that pretty much sum up the events of the past four days: David Stern really screwed over the Lakers (and the Hornets...and the Rockets).  If it weren’t for Stern vetoing their CP3-deal, Los Angeles would’ve never been forced to get rid of a disgruntled Odom.  Luckily for the Nets, their odds of successfully dealing for Howard look higher than ever and with Superman and Deron Williams in the same starting-five, they’ll instantly become a force in the East.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer. Follow him on Twitter.