The rumors were already spreading on Thursday but yesterday the official announcement arrived: Dwight Howard (photo ©Tim Wang) was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in a complex operation which involved four NBA teams.
Let’s take a good look at this whole players movement. Dwight Howard arrives to the Los Angeles Lakers. Andrew Bynum goes from the Lakers to the Philadelphia 76ers. Jason Richardson goes from the Orlando Magic to the 76ers. Andre Iguodala goes from the 76ers to the Denver Nuggets. Arron Afflalo and Al Harrington go from the Nuggets to the Magic. Nikola Vucevic and Moe Harkless go from the 76ers to the Magic. Chris Duhon and Earl Clark go from the Magic to the Lakers. Josh McRoberts and Christian Eyenga go from the Magic to the Lakers.
The Orlando Magic also obtained a series of conditional first and second picks for the next years drafts: a second pick from the Nuggets next year, a first pick from the Nuggets or the Knicks in 2014, a first pick from the 76ers and a second pick from the Lakers in 2015 and a first pick from the Lakers in 2017. The Magic will also have a $17.8 million trade exception to be used over the next year.
This complicated trade is the end of a series that seemed endless of speculations and rumors about Dwight Howard’s future and the result was a little different from the one unofficially announced yesterday. Inevitably, the consequences will be significant for the entire NBA.
The Denver Nuggets have potentially improved the quality of their team with Andre Iguodala. They were already a rising team, now they can now make a step up in quality.
The Philadelphia 76ers got Andrew Bynum, one of the best centers in the NBA, and Jason Richardson giving away a player who was a key for them but was becoming more of a burden than an asset. Then they can also make a step up.
On paper, the Los Angeles Lakers are the team that has gained the most. Sixteen years after Shaquille O’Neal, Dwight Howard goes from the Orlando Magic to the Los Angeles Lakers with the intention of winning the NBA title. Thanks to the arrival of Steve Nash, the Lakers will want to immediately challenge the Miami Heat for the NBA title. Kobe Bryant showed his enthusiasm, also because it wasn’t necessary to sacrifice Pau Gasol, who could be the player most favored by the arrival of Dwight Howard.
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For the Orlando Magic, only the future will tell if they made the right move. They tried to convince Dwight Howard to stay even changing their head coach but now Stan Van Gundy would probably be the best person to manage the team rebuilding. The Magic gained a number of players and pickes for the next few years but, just as it happened when Shaquille O’Neal left, the risk for them is that they might take several years to go back to top level.
This was really a huge trade for the amount of teams and players involved but obviously also for their quality. Even now I feel like saying that the next NBA season will be really interesting.
