Sources: Nets chase Dwight Howard
The New Jersey Nets have entered into serious talks with the Orlando Magic on a multiteam trade scenario that would that bring Dwight Howard to the Nets, according to sources close to the process.
Sources told ESPN.com that the most active proposal discussed by the teams would send Portland Trail Blazers swingman Gerald Wallace to the Magic along with Nets center Brook Lopez as two of the main pieces Orlando would receive in exchange for Howard.As part of such a trade, which could be expanded to include a fourth team,
sources say Orlando would also shed the long-term contracts of Hedo Turkoglu and Chris Duhon -- both absorbed by New Jersey -- while also potentially receiving future draft considerations.
Other players would have to be added to the deal to make the salary-cap math work, but sources said Portland would receive multiple first-round picks as part of the exchange for surrendering Wallace and facilitating the trade.
Yet it remains to be seen if the Brooklyn-bound Nets can convince the Magic to indeed go through with trading Howard before the season starts. Earlier this week, one source familiar with the Magic's thinking insisted to ESPN.com that they were not yet prepared to trade Howard away, clinging to the hope that he can be talked into staying.
Howard himself is known for changing his views on the matter on a near-daily basis, torn by his desire to move to a more glamorous market like Brooklyn or Los Angeles and the prospect of staying with the team that drafted him and delivering the championship to Orlando that Shaquille O'Neal could not.
One source said that the Nets were moving "aggressively" in their pursuit of Howard after Nene -- New Jersey's top free-agent target -- agreed to terms Tuesday night on a five-year, $67 million deal to return to the Denver Nuggets.
The Nets also know they will likely have to fend off the Lakers, who have long been linked with a possible trade for Howard with an offer built around young center Andrew Bynum. But there is also a sense around the league that the Lakers' re-emergence in the Chris Paul sweepstakes, as reported Tuesday night by ESPN.com, could be a signal that L.A. believes that the Nets are in the lead for Howard.
It's believed that a deal for Howard will ultimately force the Nets to not only release forward Travis Outlaw through the amnesty clause in the league's new collective bargaining agreement but also to renounce the rights to free-agent power forward Kris Humphries.http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/7351542/sources-new-jersey-nets-serious-talks-get-dwight-howard
