NBA Trade Rumors: Lakers Must Not Give Up on Acquiring Dwight Howard

They should have gotten him last week, but the Los Angeles Lakers officially missed out on Chris Paul on Wednesday night.

To boot, the New Orleans Hornets traded CP3 to the Los Angeles Clippers (see ESPN.com report), who should no longer be referred to as LA's "other" team. 

That wasn't the only bad thing to happen to the Lakers on Wednesday. A little earlier in the day, the Orlando Magic started informing teams that they no longer wanted to talk about trading Dwight Howard.

Per Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the Lakers were interested in Howard. The Magic also liked the pieces they had to offer, namely Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum.

But nope. The Magic plan to start the season with Howard on their roster, this despite the fact they have virtually no hope of re-signing him once he hits free agency at the end of the season.

Howard has supposedly warned the Magic of such. If they don't trade him by the March 15 deadline, they better get a good look at him in the final months of the season. They'll never see him in a Magic uniform again after he's gone.

Because of this, it is very easy to speculate that the Magic will reconsider their stance on Howard somewhere down the line. Common sense will have to prevail. Better for the Magic to trade Howard for something than lose him for nothing.

This is why the Lakers must not give up on the notion of making a deal for Howard. After missing out on Paul, the Lakers can't afford to risk missing out on Howard, too. They need a new superstar, and he's pretty much the only one available.

Yes, I will reiterate that the Lakers need a new superstar. Kobe Bryant is getting old, and it's past time for the Lakers to start preparing for life after Kobe. As talented as Andrew Bynum is, the last thing the Lakers want to do is trust that the franchise will be safe in his hands after Kobe is gone.

Besides, the team the Lakers currently have is not a championship-caliber squad. It might have been had they kept Lamar Odom, but Mitch Kupchak flinched and sent him to the Lakers' biggest competitor for a few pennies and a case of beer.

The only way the Lakers are saving face is if they make a move equal in magnitude to the one just made by their in-arena neighbors. 

That means getting Howard. And for now, that means waiting patiently.

It does not mean the Lakers are free to wash their hands of the idea.