Biggest Question Surrounding Lakers' Future Has More to Do with Kobe Than Dwight

Whether or not you like the current Lakers lineup, it is safe to say that the team does not have enough pieces in place to contend for a championship. And it's not just the fans that feel this way.

This sentiment was shared by Magic Johnson in the halftime show of the Lakers-Bulls matchup, echoed by NBA analysts across the board for weeks now, and was made clear in last night's game when the Lakers seemed too dependent on the aging Kobe Bryant to set up its offense.

Now, if there is any solace to this mess, it's that this season, for all the effort it took to make it a reality, seems to be a wash.

After all, the schedule is condensed, the Heat seem to have created further distance in the race to the championship and teams are still trying to come to terms with the new rule changes in managing their personnel.

Therefore, the big question surrounding the Lakers isn't what changes can be made to bring the Lakers back on top; it's how the team plans on going into its future.

For one thing, we know that any ideas of a trade for Dwight Howard don't look likely to happen this season. Just yesterday, owner Jim Buss ridiculed the notion of the Lakers trading Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol as "silly." Meanwhile, we also know that, despite the Orlando Magic's urgency to get something in return for him, Dwight Howard won't leave the team empty-handed for the same reason Carmelo Anthony didn't leave the Denver Nuggets empty-handed last year- because the player gets more money that way.

Before we move along into next summer's offseason, here's a question that, off the record, should be bouncing on every Laker fan's head: if Dwight Howard was the big prize all along, and the Lakers were willing to trade Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom to get Chris Paul, then what would hold them back from trading Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol for Howard? Food for thought.

Anyway, assuming Dwight Howard is not traded until next summer, wouldn't the Brooklyn Nets seem to be the favorites to get him? We already know the Lakers don't plan to trade Bynum and Gasol, or they would have done so by now. We know the Nets are Howard's first pick and that they have more to offer the Magic in youth and a rebuilding foundation than the aging Lakers.

Ultimately, all of these variables are going to lead to a fork in the road for the Lakers.

Why?

Because what may be in the best interest for Kobe Bryant (winning now) may not be in the best interest of the Lakers.

If you don't understand where I'm going with this, think about the New York Knicks for the last decade. A team that continuously sacrificed its future by trying to do what was best for its present. In the process, they delayed any sense of good fortune about five years longer than it should have arrived. 

As Allen Iverson would say: "This ain't the Clippers, it's the Knicks! Not a tight-wad team! Not a team that no one in the city could care less about! It's the Knicks!"

To digress, the sad thing about all of this is that the Lakers may end up in an awkward position, i.e. teetering on a PR nightmare.

Of course they would never want to trade the face of their franchise, especially because of everything he has done for them.

But, if history teaches us anything, its that Kobe will not go silently into the night while the Lakers try to make something magical happen out of what assets they have left, no pun intended.

Already Kobe has let the media know that he is unsure what direction the team is going. That's never a good sign. No, not the words itself, but the fact that he feels as if he needs to get through to management through the media.

So I leave everyone you with this:

If the Lakers and Kobe Bryant are headed towards a collision course, what should the team do?

Should they try to appease Kobe by bringing in some new blood that will probably generate some buzz but not translate into a championship? (Ask yourself, if the Lakers traded Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum for Dwight Howard, would the Lakers be any closer to winning a championship?)

Or should they start thinking about letting Kobe know that their whole plan of having their cake and eating it too doesn't seem like its going to come to fruition and now they may have no choice but to start rebuilding from the ground up?

All I know is that, based on all the miles Kobe has accumulated up to now, as well as the Lakers' limited assets, there is only one move the Lakers could ever make to truly get Kobe the help he needs to win a championship while he still has a few great years left.

Unfortunately, he would be the one that would need to be traded to do so.