Dwight Howard Trade Rumors: Orlando Magic Caught in No-Win Situation

Orlando Magic GM Otis Smith is stuck between a rock and a hard place with Dwight Howard, and even that's putting it lightly.

He's essentially in the same position in which Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich found himself after Barack Obama was elected president—he's got this thing (Howard), it's bleepin' golden and he's not givin' it up for bleepin' nothin'.

Of course, Smith isn't about to be incarcerated for trading Howard—seeing as how such a move isn't exactly illegal—though it's safe to say that Smith's future in Orlando is riding on how he handles Howard's situation and what he gets in return for the franchise star that he shaped from an 18-year-old with tremendous potential as the No. 1 pick in the 2004 NBA Draft.

At this point, all signs point to Howard turning down any offers to stay in Orlando beyond this season and taking his talents to New Jersey/Brooklyn, Los Angeles or Dallas next summer if the Magic let him walk. The Magic saw this same script play out in 1996, when Shaquille O'Neal left central Florida for LaLa Land and the team with, well, bleepin' nothin'.

The Magic, it would seem, aren't inclined to let that situation play out again, though the team still seems to be holding out hope that Howard will decide to buck Shaq's legacy and spend the rest of his career playing ball in a small market and touring theme parks in his free time.

Fat chance that happens, and it's not like the Magic have the pieces in place to make one last run at an NBA title before Superman flies away.

The media circus surrounding Howard's every move isn't helping the Magic at all. The Denver Nuggets proved last season just how much a wantaway star can hamstring a franchise. Like Howard, Carmelo Anthony had paid his dues with the Nuggets and, with his eyes fixed on brighter lights in a bigger city, wasn't about to sign an extension to stick around.

As a result, Denver struggled through the first half of the season while 'Melo sulked and slunk his way through. 'Melo's teammates seemed to resent his presence and saw their chemistry compromised as a result.

Smith certainly wouldn't want to see the team he put together devolve into that sort of mess, though the example that Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri set should give Smith pause on the positive end as well. Ujiri forced the New Jersey Nets and the New York Knicks into a bidding war that ultimately yielded three instant-impact pieces (Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton and Danilo Gallinari) along with Timofey Mozgov and a basket of draft picks.

It's that sort of bounty will leave Smith sitting on his hands until the trade deadline in March. Well, that and the stress fracture in the foot of Robin Lopez, who'd likely be the centerpiece of any deal between the Magic and the Nets.

At this point, it's to Smith's advantage to wait for New Jersey to get its ducks back in a row. The Lakers' offer of Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum isn't going anywhere. If anything, LA will likely keep Gasol off the table at all costs until his inclusion is necessitated both by the Magic's demands and the Nets' offering.

In Smith's mind, if getting the best deal for his star big man requires that his team wade through treacherous waters, then so be it. Better that the franchise endure a spate of suffering now than slog through another Dark Age like they did in the waning years of the Tracy McGrady era.

It won't be easy situation to resolve, and Smith will take quite a bit of heat regardless of what he does, but if the Magic have any hope of avoiding years of mediocrity, then a few months of pain will have to do.

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