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Okay, there has been a lot of speculation lately about what is going to happen with Dwight. As a hardcore Orlando Magic fan, it’s not easy to listen to all these rumors about your star and franchise player going to other places. However, I’m not letting it bother me because most of what we keep hearing from the media just makes no sense.

Earlier today on SportsCenter, Ric Bucher claimed the Lakers and Mavericks are the two top destinations for Dwight to land as a free agent. Really? Two teams way above the salary cap and into luxury tax that cannot offer more than the Mid Level Exception? Especially with a hard cap expected in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, this claim is even more absurd. The only way either team can land Dwight is to somehow dump a ton of salary in one year or to make a trade.

First thing first, the Magic will NOT trade Dwight Howard this offseason. They have a billionare owner who is committed to spending as much money as possible and management will be looking to make one last shakeup attempt before they even considered the idea of trading Dwight. But if it gets into the season and it again looks like the Magic are heading nowhere and Dwight is on his way out, you have to listen to trade offers.

If Dwight Howard is to leave, the Magic have no choice but to rebuild, so in a trade the Magic are going to look for a head start on that rebuilding with young players and draft picks. You keep hearing about a package from the Lakers including Andrew Bynum and/or Pau Gasol plus Lamar Odom. While Bynum would be an interesting piece to a rebuilding team, his history of injuries and dirty plays are tough to look past and aging Gasol and/or Odom with years still on their deals are NOT what a rebuilding team will want to take on. If the Lakers want Dwight Howard, they’re going to need to find another team to send more young players and picks to Orlando.

If Dwight were to ever hit the trade market, a lot of teams will be calling and offering a lot to obtain him. It’s not often the league’s best big man is available like that and the Magic will have options if it came to that. But, I still don’t believe Dwight is as good as gone just yet. It’s too early to tell. The Magic will try and make more moves before they even think of moving him and Dwight has yet to actually indicate he wants to leave anyways.
People assume that is where this is headed because of LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, but Dwight has yet to say anything to make me believe he’s done with the Magic.

I’m not delusional. I know that if we don’t make the right moves, he could be on his way out. But I still believe his #1 option is to stay in Orlando, but I can’t blame him if a better option came up and he went for it. I’m just tired of hearing that Dwight is leaving even though he’s not indicated anything towards that yet and I’m tired of hearing how we need to take back guys like Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom in a trade for him.

Let’s see what happens with the new Collective Bargaining Agreement first, then see what the Magic decide to do with their roster before we start talking about the Dwight sweepstakes. Because as of right now, there is nothing there.

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By Milla4Prez66 – Jabberhead, Magic Fan, SJ Contributing Author

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