This is not going to come as welcome news to Daryl Morey and the Houston Rockets, but there is a report out there today from an Orlando TV station that Dwight Howard is very close to being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. David Pingalore of WKMG-TV in Orlando uses some pretty strong language in his report. “This past week has been nothing but multiple smoke screens concerning the Dwight Howard drama. According to Pingalore’s sources, this week is all about getting Dwight Howard to Los Angeles and on the Lakers roster. Sources close to the situation believe the “The Lakers will be the end game for the Magic center”. It has long been known that the Lakers were on Howard’s B-list, and that B-list came into play midway through the week when the Brooklyn Nets abandoned their pursuit of Howard and chose to retain Brook Lopez with a max four-year contract with $60.8 million. Howard reportedly has lucrative incentives in his deal with adidas if he finds a way to play in one of the nation’s two largest markets — New York or Los Angeles. More from Pingalore’s report: “Many of the stories about Howard have come from Howard’s camp and not from front office people. It is widely believed with front office people that the end game for Howard is the Lakers. That point was stressed over and over to Pingalore. The sources went as far to say “follow the money,” adding “The Lakers are a big market team that needs a player as global as Dwight Howard. Pingalore’s sources believe that this deal is in place and is set for announcement in the short term. Pingalore reported Thursday night the Houston Rockets were in play but the situation remains fluid and is changing at the moment and it’s about keeping people off base. The sources say Friday night this still is all but done. ”Some crossing of T’s and dotting of I’s is only left”. It has been widely assumed around the league that the Rockets have a deal in place to acquire Howard, and their waiving of Luis Scola through the amnesty process was a move they needed to make to clear enough room under the cap to not only take on Howard, but several other Orlando players. Houston has the type of assets Orlando general manager Rob Hennigan would like to acquire, including Toronto’s No. 1 pick (top-3 protected in the 2013 Draft, top-2 protected in 2014 and 2015, top-1 protected in 2016 and 2017 and unprotected in 2018) , and a future No. 1 pick from Dallas (top 20 protected through 2017, unprotected in 2018). The Rockets also have the rights to three players picked among the top 18 in last month’s draft – Jeremy Lamb, Royce White and Terrence Jones, along with two young big men acquired from New York in the Marcus Camby trade — Josh Harrellson and Jerome Jordan. The Lakers have no similar future assets, having surrendered two future No. 1 picks in their sign-and-trade deal for Steve Nash. But they do have the best center in the Western Conference in Andrew Bynum, whose contract (like Howard’s) expires at the conclusion of next season. http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2012/07/14/report-howard-will-be-traded-to-lakers/
Doesnt make sense la doesnt have any pics to offer to orlando I still think houston is the leader in the race..hope im wrong tho
Marc Stein was saying on a podcast that if Lakers want Howard the only way for them to do it is a 3 team trade ....check it out http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8...howard-trade-orlando-magic-release-luis-scola
a source close to my camp says he might go to the heat for five veteran's minimum! of course he is going to los angeles, they're one of the four teams that these media minions jerk it to. =/
For Howard, that Addidas contract is all that matters. He is supposed to be negotiating a new deal with them and wants something close to what DRose got. If he can get to LA or NY, his incentives would go way up. Rose signed a 185 million guaranteed deal with Addidas with incentives that go well over 200 million. While being traded to Houston and leaving 25 million on the table to be an unrestricted free agent would stink, he can easily make up for it by being in one of those markets. When you are talking hundreds of millions of dollars, losing 25 million may not be as hard to swallow. However, I think he'll get his money one way or another. Neither Broolyn, nor NY can sign him for max money outright and none of their stars are players that Houston would be interested in. There was a time that we wanted DS or Carmelo, but that ship has sailed and in no way would Morey be interested in a max deal with Lopez with that foot injury. That leaves LA. With Bynum wanting max money and both Pau and Bryant's contracts being over in two seasons. LA is set up to be able to negotiate a max deal and would only be in the red in 2013-2014 season. I think in the end either this summer or at the trade deadline, we'll see Bynum in a Rockets uniform.
No way, man...."no way he would walk away from 25 mill" lol If he gets a 200 mill contract with Adidas, 25 mill is peanuts in comparison. Dude isnt the Durant type......He craves the spotlight. Something tells me he would walk away without blinking. If we can somehow sign Bynum as a UFA next year without losing anything at all.....Dream scenario! Not gonna happen...but it would be nice if it did.
Despite being upset about losing Scola, I'd be more upset about being set back for at least 3 years due to picking up Hedo and a year rental of Dwight.
I sure wish we coulda got something for him in a trade... A pick...something! Ah well. You are right about it being time to move on tho.
No one's gonna give you anything of value for someone who's making 9M a year for the next 3 years.Most you can get is exipirings and maybe a 2nd rounders, or expirings and a young mid-tier prospect. At that point its better to just get the capspace.
Tony Mejia: "@HelloLakers: what do you mean zero with la?" Zero that should be taken seriously. Unless Bynum has sudden change of heart, LAL is leverage about 19 minutes ago Read more: http://hoopshype.com/twitter/media.html#ixzz20cWqMYef
Scola's time here was done regaurdless. We have talented young bigs we need to develop if we dont land dwight.
Pingalore is a complete buffoon, so I'm disappointed in this even being a thread. But it amazes me how most in the media still don't seem to get it. WHAT ORLANDO WANTS MATTERS. HOWARD IS NOT A FREE AGENT. Yes, it would be great for Howard if he landed in NY or LA. That's where the money is, for him. And yes, the Lakers could use him. But they have zero draft picks to offer Orlando and limited ability to absorb bad contracts. Moreover, it's well documented that the Magic are concerned about Bynum on two fronts - both his knees and his willingness to re-sign. The Pingalore "report" connects the dots on why Howard may accept LA, just as the reports did last weekend with Howard and Brooklyn. However, it does nothing to address the concerns or desires of the Orlando Magic. It's really not a hard concept to grasp, but the majority of the media still doesn't seem to get it. There are more than Howard's desires at play in this. It's incredible.
