At the start of training camp, the Magic gave Dwight Howard's agent permission to talk to the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks and the New Jersey Nets. Back then, it was believed that Howard's ideal landing sport was the Nets, where he would team with Deron Williams and compete with Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire for a share of New York's enormous basketball market when the Nets moved to Brooklyn.
Now, the Nets have lost the centerpiece of their potential trade package for D12, Brook Lopez, to injury and an Orlando-NJ deal seems highly unlikely. Additionally, various sources are reporting that the Golden States Warriors would be willing trade for Howard without long-term assurances and that New York Knicks are prepared to part with Amare.
Below you will find all of the latest rumors and reports on the Dwight Howard trade saga:
* Dwight Howard via Yahoo! Sports: "I don't think they are going to do anything right now because we're winning. … Even if this is the last season, let's go out hard, regardless."
In the same report by Marc Spears, Howard was asked if he thought the Magic would trade him by the March 15th deadline. Howard responded, "I don't think so."
* Kurt Helin from NBC Sports: "The Knicks have opened talks that would send Amare Stoudemire to Orlando in a swap to rent Dwight Howard, reports Donny Marshall - former NBA player and current CSNNE reporter - on NBC SportsTalk Thursday. In the video above the talk of the trade starts at the 3:30 mark. There are a whole lot of questions around this one. Starting with, the Knicks are not one of the teams on Howard's list where he said he would sign an extension (Nets, Lakers, Mavericks and Magic). If they get him, the Knicks would essentially risk just renting him because Howard could opt out at the end of the season and leave with the Knicks getting no compensation. Clearly, if they got him they think they could get him to change his mind and sign long term. Thing is the Knicks already have a good center - they just signed Tyson Chandler to a four-year, $58 million deal. Is the plan to ship Chandler out, too? Trade him to Orlando for the Hedo Turkoglu deal? Because the cost of keeping Howard (who will get a new max deal) and Chandler would put the Knicks way into the new, increasingly stiff luxury tax."
* Marc J. Spears from Yahoo! Sports: "The Golden State Warriors would be willing to trade for Howard without the assurance he'd sign a long-term extension with them, sources told Yahoo! Sports. Yet while the Magic still hope to convince Howard to stay with them, sources close to the All-Star center said he'd have to be convinced the team is a legitimate championship contender."
* WKMG Local 6 via SLAM: "Local 6 Sports Director David Pingalore has learned that Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard may be rethinking his trade request. In December, Howard told the Magic he would want to be traded to either the New Jersey Nets, Dallas Mavericks or Los Angeles Lakers. Multiple NBA sources confirmed to Pingalore that Howard has been heavily recruiting New Jersey Nets point guard Deron Williams to play with him in Orlando. Pingalore has also learned the Magic are trying to trade for Williams. Pingalore's sources confirmed that Howard would rather stay in Orlando, and the sources said that it's an '80 percent' chance Howard stays."
* Magic GM Otis Smith via the Orlando Sentinel: "I think his [Howard's] leaving or going has nothing to do with Orlando. … I think he wants a bigger market. I can't do anything about that."
More from the Yahoo! Contributor Network:
Top 5 Reasons Dwight Howard will join the Los Angeles Lakers
Insider Trade Rumor: Pau Gasol for Kevin Love
Top 5 Most Likely Trades for the Los Angeles Lakers
Kobe Bryant will likely demand a trade from the Los Angeles Lakers: Fan's take
How the Los Angeles Lakers can land Dwight Howard
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