NBA Trade Rumors: Will Dwight Howard's Shoe Deal Determine His Future?

When money finally looks like it isn’t the No. 1 persuader in any pro-sports issue, you’ve been fooled.

Dwight Howard is attempting to trick the nation.  The 6’11”, 265-pound freak athlete has consistently claimed that his starvation for a championship ring is his greatest motivation.  Despite his supposed hunger, Benjamin Franklin still has more of hold over Howard than Larry O’Brien.

According to Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, more thought went into Howard’s dream list than which team would give him the best shot to win the title. 

Not Deron Williams, not Kobe Bryant, but Adidas is what is truly prying him away from the Orlando Magic. 

After all, while it makes sense that the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks found their way onto D12’s list, one has to wonder how in the world the New Jersey Nets could sneak on while the Chicago Bulls were left out in the cold.

Chicago is the deepest team in the entire NBA.  Howard would be paired with a superstar point guard in Derrick Rose for the next half-dozen years or more.  And just imagine the Bulls defense with Superman protecting the paint in Tom Thibodeau’s system.

A sneaker executive shed light onto the mystery telling Wojnarowski that:

"

Adidas simply cannot have its two signature players on the same team in the same market.  Derrick is the face of that market, owns that market, and Adidas can’t possibly have maximum bang for its buck with Dwight there.  It serves Adidas no purpose.  They need them as rivals in competing markets.

"

Not Rose himself, but his AdiZero’s are the determining factor in Howard’s choice to add or spurn the Bulls from his list of desired destinations.  The theory sounds insane, but at the same time, it makes perfect sense. 

Similarly to LeBron James and Chris Bosh being more willing to take a pay cut in Florida because of the taxes, a monetary detail outside of the basic NBA contract could decide where Howard ultimately lands.

Howard’s eyes aren’t scanning the talent in the three-way matchup of the Magic vs. the Lakers vs. the Nets.  Not the teams, but the cities of Orlando vs. LA vs. NY are the real attraction.  

Is it just coincidence that Los Angeles and Brooklyn boast the nation's two largest markets?

I think not.

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