Dwight Howard Trade Rumors: Orlando Magic End All Trade Talks for Dwight Howard

As of today, Yahoo! Sports has confirmed that the Orlando Magic have officially ended all negotiations for All-Star big man Dwight Howard.

Many teams have become interested in the services of Dwight Howard, a short list including the New Jersey Nets, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Chicago Bulls.

It seemed as if Dwight was sure to leave after he submitted a trade request to the management of the Orlando Magic, and many thought it was the end of the Dwight-era in Orlando.

Dwight was later asked of the situation, and answered saying that he would be open to staying in Orlando which seems is going to be the outcome of all of this.

The offseason has been a well documented race for Dwight Howard, with a variety of trade opportunities popping up around on every site that even mentioned the NBA basically. Trade ideas ranged from Andrew Bynum for Dwight to the most recent rumor, a four team trade revolving mostly around the Portland Trailblazers, the New Jersey Nets and the Orlando Magic.

The trade would send forward Gerald Wallace to Orlando from Portland, while Orlando would also receive young big man Brook Lopez. Portland would walk out of the trade with "multiple" draft picks, the final number not being certain.

Dwight has been playing for Orlando his entire career so far, and talks about him leaving have been surfacing around the net all the way since "The Decision" which saw the Cleveland Cavaliers losing Lebron James for nothing but a trade exception and a late first round pick in a weak draft.

Many NBA analysts became skeptical of Dwight Howard's thoughts on playing on a team that has only made it deep into the playoffs once and is neck deep in bad contracts. That is when it was "decided" that the best situation for both sides would be for Dwight Howard to be traded to a team that can return the favor to Orlando in the form of daft picks, young players and a big man to take Dwight's place.

The most likely candidates were the Los Angeles Lakers and the New Jersey Nets.

New Jersey had the draft picks and a big man, while the Lakers could offer an All-Star level big man in Pau Gasol and a young, injury-riddled, yet talented, center in Andrew Bynum.

Los Angeles soon fell out of the talks a couple of days ago after refusing to include both Gasol and Bynum in a trade for Dwight Howard, which Orlando demanded in a trade.

New Jersey seemed like the ultimate destination for Dwight, even up to today, until the Magic decided that it was in their best interest to keep Dwight Howard for a little longer and decide from there if a trade really was the best solution to the entire dilemma.

Some figure that Orlando has a plan up their sleeves to add an All-Star, or two, to help Dwight Howard.

Mentioned names have included Josh Smith, Chris Paul and even Monta Ellis. Only time will tell if the Magic are able to please Dwight Howard enough to stay, as this upcoming offseason he becomes an unrestricted free agent. 

The Magic don't want to end up like the Cleveland Cavaliers.