NBA Trade Rumors: Dallas Mavericks Hope Orlando Magic Hold on to Dwight Howard

Casting judgement about any NBA teams after Christmas Day is a risky proposition, though it's not exactly unreasonable to think the Dallas Mavericks aren't exactly title-defense material after watching them struggle so mightily against the Miami Heat.

Only time will tell if the Mavs really are screwed without Tyson Chandler, JJ Barea and DeShawn Stevenson, though even one season of regression may be well worth it if the superstar chips fall Mark Cuban's way.

It's no secret that Cuban wants to lure Deron Williams, a Dallas native, away from the temporarily-New Jersey Nets to play for his hometown Mavericks. It's also no secret that Dwight Howard and Cuban are on each other's radars, with Howard having included the Mavs among the three teams, along with the Nets and the Los Angeles Lakers, with which he permitted Orlando Magic GM Otis Smith to negotiate prior to the season.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Cuban and Mavs' GM Donnie Nelson—about as ambitious a front office brain trust as there is in the NBA today—would want to bring both of them to the Metroplex via free agency.

The Mavs will certainly have the financial flexibility to do so—their payroll will drop from its current mark of just over $71 million down to $41.4 million this summer, when Jason Terry and Jason Kidd come off the books, and could free up even more cap space if they decline Lamar Odom's team option and/or waive Brendan Haywood via the amnesty clause.

The team still wouldn't be able to offer five-year max deals of the sort that the Nets could extend to the Williams and the Magic to Howard, though the opportunity to compete for titles together with Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Marion, not to mention the allure of playing for an owner who pampers his players as much as Cuban does, may be too much to pass up. 

As Ken Berger of CBSSports.com points out, that's exactly what Dallas is hoping for:

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If Orlando doesn't trade Howard at all, thus daring him to take a similar pay cut to leave, then the Mavs would be in play for both superstars. Some rival executives believe if anyone could sell Howard and Williams to forgo short-term dollars for the opportunity to chase championships together, it's Cuban.

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The key phrase here being "If Orlando doesn't trade Howard." Should Magic management choose to heed the ghost of Shaquille O'Neal, it seems most likely to send Howard to L.A. for a package including Andrew Bynum and possibly Pau Gasol. That would still leave D-Will out on the open market and the Mavs with more than enough cap space to drown him in money.

However, if Orlando plays the waiting game with Brook Lopez's broken foot and ultimately decides to send Howard to New Jersey, then the Mavs will likely find themselves lodged somewhere between a rock and a hard place.

Howard and Williams are said to want to play together and wouldn't likely turn down the chance to do so under the ownership of Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, with New York City in their backyard.

Not that the free-agent class of 2012 doesn't have any other quality players to offer. The Mavs could always throw cash at restricted free agents like Eric Gordon, Kevin Love, Michael Beasley and Russell Westbrook.

Or, they could dole it out on some short-term contracts to unrestricted veterans, such as former Mav Steve Nash, Raymond Felton and Ray Allen.

Any combination of those moves, though, would pale in comparison to the possibility of a Three-D core of Dirk, Deron and Dwight. That would give the Mavs the sort of sheer talent they'd need to win titles right away while allowing the franchise to remain relevant as a contender even after Nowitzki calls it quits.

For Dallas to have any shot at making Big D even bigger in the alphabet and on the court, it needs Orlando to hold out hope that Howard will stay, or at least the gumption enough to keep him away from the Brooklyn-bound Nets.

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