Lakers, Magic in blockbuster four-team trade talks to send Dwight Howard to L.A.

The Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Lakers are engaged with the Denver Nuggets and Philadelphia 76ers in a four-way blockbuster that could ultimately deliver superstar center Dwight Howard to the Lakers, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.


Dwight Howard will become a free agent at the end of this season. (AP)A deal is not considered imminent, but the talks have grown serious over the course of this week, sources said.

There are other players involved in these fluid talks, but a framework of the possible deal includes Howard and Denver forward Al Harrington going to the Lakers, Philadelphia guard Andre Iguodala going to the Nuggets, Los Angeles center Andrew Bynum moving to the 76ers, and Los Angeles forward Pau Gasol and Denver guard Arron Afflalo going to the Magic, sources told Yahoo! Sports.

The Magic would have a better chance of moving Gasol in another deal to get further assets, sources said, and eliminate the risk of Bynum leaving them as a free agent in 2013. Nevertheless, there was still a sense that Gasol's and Bynum's destinations could be fluid in the talks. Either way, one would go to Orlando and the other to Philadelphia, sources said.

The proposed deal includes the Magic also gaining draft picks and salary-cap relief, sources said.

A four-team trade that would send Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers is complete, multiple sources told ESPN on Thursday night.

A source with direct knowledge of the talks told ESPN.com's Marc Stein the Lakers will receive Howard, the Denver Nuggets will acquire Andre Iguodala, the 76ers will receive Andrew Bynum and Jason Richardson, and the Magic will get Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Nikola Vucevic and one protected future first-round pick from each of the three teams.

In addition, the Magic will be getting other pieces, including 76ers No. 1 draft pick Moe Harkless, a source told Stein.

Sources close to the process told Stein and ESPNLosAngeles.com's Ramona Shelburne that a trade call with the league office has been scheduled for Friday to secure the necessary NBA approval to make the deal official.

Lakers forward Pau Gasol had been in and out of talks, sources told Shelburne, before ultimately being excluded.

One source briefed on Howard's plans told Stein the All-Star center will indeed stand firm on his intent to play out the 2012-13 season without extending his contract so he can become a free agent on July 1, 2013. Going that route will enable Howard to decide how comfortable he is in Los Angeles before deciding whether to re-sign with the Lakers or join the Dallas Mavericks, who will have the requisite salary-cap space to sign Howard and remain one of his preferred destinations from his original list of three teams (Brooklyn Nets, Lakers and Mavericks).

"If Los Angeles doesn't work out for Dwight, Dallas will be there waiting for him," the source told Stein.

One source close to Kobe Bryant, meanwhile, told Stein the Lakers' star was ecstatic Thursday night upon hearing that Los Angeles was able to complete such a significant transaction without surrendering Gasol. Bryant is with Team USA at the London Olympics.

Sources told ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard that Philadelphia has not spoken to Bynum or his representatives, and has no assurances he will sign a long-term extension with the team.

"The Sixers are willing to take a shot (without Bynum's commitment)," one source said.

Although Bynum signing an extension with the 76ers is not out of the question, according to a source, his stance all summer has been he only will sign an extension with the Lakers.

Bynum, who grew up about an hour away from Philadelphia in Plainsboro, N.J., could sign a three-year, $60 million extension this season or wait to become a free agent after the season and be eligible for a five-year, $102 million deal.

Earlier Thursday, Yahoo! Sports, citing sources, reported that talks of a four-team trade involving Howard have taken place this week and have "grown serious."

Near the end of July, Howard met with Magic general manager Rob Hennigan and reiterated his desire to be traded, and if he isn't, would leave the team as a free agent after next season.

The Lakers' position on Howard had remained relatively unchanged for the past few months, league sources familiar with the situation told ESPNLosAngeles.com. The Lakers always had been willing to trade for Howard without assurances he'd re-sign with them after the season, believing that once Howard experienced a championship culture, he would want to stay.

LOS ANGELES -- It's not hard to picture Dwight Howard in a Los Angeles Lakers uniform.

For the better part of the past two years, Lakers fans have superimposed a Lakers jersey on every imaginable image of Howard. Type in Howard's name into Google and you'd think he has played the majority of his career in Los Angeles.

It's not hard to picture Howard living in Los Angeles and enjoying life in Hollywood.

For the better part of this summer, Howard has been spotted around Los Angeles by the paparazzi as much as a Kardashian. He's on the Dodger Stadium video board during the seventh-inning stretch, going for a walk outside of his hotel in Beverly Hills and waiting in line with kids for ice cream at Sprinkles. He has been in the city more than any Laker this off-season.

And after Thursday's news that Howard will be traded to the Lakers as early as Friday, it's not hard to picture him winning his first championship in Los Angeles.

Yes, that's right Miami, there is a new challenger to your throne and this team has a "Big Four" to trump your "Big Three."

There will be no pep rallies filled with smoke and pyrotechnics when the deal officially goes down. Los Angeles usually saves such bells and whistles for championships but such a celebration in June is certainly what the Lakers have in mind now with Howard and Steve Nash.

And there will be no proclamations of winning "not six, not seven, not eight" titles but you have to believe that is what Kobe Bryant is now thinking as he sits next to LeBron James in London and counts his number of championship rings.

The window was supposed to be closed -- or at least closing -- on the Lakers' pursuit of a championship after last season and the new CBA was supposed to have locked that window shut for the foreseeable future.

This offseason Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak and Lakers executive vice president Jim Buss took a sledge hammer to that window and now it's wide open. In the process, they may have also made the Lakers the favorites to win the NBA title yet again.

After the disappointment of "basketball reasons" robbing them of Chris Paul, the Lakers somehow got Nash for a package of draft picks and the trade exception they received from the Lamar Odom deal with Dallas. Then they finally found the right mix of teams and players to get Howard from Orlando for Andrew Bynum and a protected draft pick.

If you're keeping track at home that means the Lakers essentially got Howard and Nash for Bynum, Odom and draft picks and were able to keep Pau Gasol in the process.

The Lakers have had their fair share of favorable trades in their history but this combination may top them all.

As great as the star power of Howard and Nash are, keeping Gasol as well as Metta World Peace when all is said and done is what makes the Lakers the team to beat going into next season.

If you thought the combination of an enigmatic and inconsistent Bynum and Gasol was hard to beat, try handling a front court of Howard and Gasol with World Peace freed up to focus on being a defensive pest.

And if you thought the Lakers were a potential contender with Derek Fisher or Ramon Sessions at point guard, try stopping them with Nash running the floor and directing the fast break better than anyone in Los Angeles has since Magic Johnson was running "Showtime."

The Lakers improved at the two positions where Miami is weakest. The Heat listed Joel Anthony as their starting center during the Finals but leaned heavily on Chris Bosh. It was a successful patchwork job that ultimately worked out for them but would be a matchup disaster against the Lakers' front court.

Miami also rode the hot hand of the much-maligned Mario Chalmers at point guard during the Finals and bypassed getting a more experienced veteran at the position this offseason. Their basic philosophy is to surround James, Dwyane Wade and Bosh with as many shooters as possible. It's a solid gameplan against most teams that are not rolling out a starting lineup of Nash, Bryant, World Peace, Gasol and Howard.

And for those of you in Oklahoma City, the Lakers are not looking past Kevin Durant and the Thunder. Oklahoma City's five-game dismantling of the Lakers in the playoffs this season on the heels of being swept out of the playoffs by the Dallas Mavericks last year was the wake-up call this team needed to realize it could not continue and contend maintaining the status quo.

When Oklahoma City eliminated the Lakers from the playoffs in May, Bryant smiled when he was asked about the Lakers' future. Despite a second straight ouster in the second round and adjusting to a new locker room without two of his closest confidants in Odom and Fisher, Bryant wasn't ready to quietly ride off into the sunset.

"I'm not fading into the shadows," Bryant said. "I'm not going anywhere. We're not going anywhere. It's not like one of those things where the Bulls beat the Pistons and the Pistons disappear forever. I'm not going for that.

"I'm not the most patient of people and the organization is not extremely patient, either. We want to win and win now. I'm sure we'll figure it out. We always have and I'm sure we will again."

It was an optimistic outlook that came to fruition Thursday but not even Bryant could have imagined the Lakers would end up with both Howard and Nash while finding a way to keep Gasol. The Lakers have not only figured it out, they have catapulted themselves back atop the NBA.

It may have seemed unimaginable a couple of months ago, but it's not hard to picture now when you look at the talent on this team.

mrkleen09 wrote:Even if it makes the Lakers marginally better, they barely beat Denver and got beat 4-1 by OKC....so maginal isnt going to cut it.

sam wrote:I used to know Dwight Howard when he was called Wilt Chamberlain and went west to make the Lakers supremely dominant. Both Wilt and Dwight were/are extremely "athletic" (based on the simplistic, pedestrian definition). Each was/is somewhat of a head case. Wilt won a championship after a few years with the Lakers. Maybe Howard will win a championship after a few years with the Lakers. It's all about how the team meshes, and the jury's out on that score. It'll be fun for Lakers fans to monitor the progress of a very different Lakers team just as Celtics fans will be focused on the progress of the Green.

Sam

sinus007 wrote:TJ,
I believe that in 2009 finals Nelson came back as the starting PG despite the outstanding performance of Alston in previous rounds.
Also, I disagree that Orl didn't have talent on that team.
OTOH, I think LAL were so formidable that Magic looked kind of lame.

AK