Los Angeles Lakers re-open trade talks for Dwight Howard – NBA News
The Los Angeles Lakers have once again started negotiating with the Orlando Magic for a trade scenario that could land All Star Centre Dwight Howard in Tinseltown next season.
Yahoo! Sports has reported that the Lakers are very interested in Howard, but want him to sign a contract extension before they sign him. Howard is currently on the final year of his contract and will be a free agent next summer.
ESPNLosAngeles.com’s Dave McMenamin has reported that the talks between the Lakers and Magic for Howard are on, but a trade would be “very tough to pull off”.
The Lakers have been in touch with the Orlando Magic on and off in the hopes of finding a suitable deal that would land Howard in Los Angeles. The 6 ft 11 in centre had demanded a trade to the Brooklyn Nets earlier and said that
was the only team he was willing to sign a contract extension with. However, talks between the Nets and the Magic broke down when Orlando refused to accept Brooklyn’s offer, and the Nets got frustrated and pulled out of the talks for good. They went on to
re-sign free agent centre Brook Lopez.
Magic's newly hired General Manager Rob Hennigan talked to Howard last week asking him to reconsider returning to Orlando next season and giving the new management a chance, but Howard was adamant in his demand to be traded.
The Houston Rockets are the other team interested in Howard and have held talks on a number of scenarios with the Orlando Magic. They used their amnesty clause on Luis Scola a few days ago to clear cap space to absorb Howard’s
contract, if the Magic did agree to a deal. The prime interest of the Rockets is bring Howard to Houston, however if that fails, they can be a third team in the Lakers - Magic trade and get All Star Centre Andrew Bynum.
Ideally, Orlando would want to have Dwight traded before training camp, so they have their full roster ready and together before the regular season commences. However, the Magic are unable to find a deal which they feel is in their
best interest, and have made it clear that they will only strike a deal when the interests of the basketball club are fully protected.
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