Dwight Howard may be following in Shaq’s footsteps by leaving Orlando.  It does not look like the Magic are in the running for any big name players thus far.  This means that Howard will probably not sign an extension with them beyond this shortened season.  That’s how Shaq felt after the 1996 season, when he left the Magic to play for the Lakers.  The Magic didn’t get anything for him because they decided to let him become a free agent rather than trying to trade him and get some sort of compensation before it was too late.  The next season, their record dropped to almost .500 and their head coach was fired.  I can only pray that this is the case next season so that Stan Van Gundy is out of the league forever! (and hopefully he takes his idiot announcer brother with him)

However they do not want to end up being like the Cavaliers last season and losing 26 games straight because they were too proud to trade their franchise player before it was too late.  They need to go out and get someone.  The Lakers have Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol to trade if they needed to if he wanted to play with Kobe.  They could also send him to the New Jersey Nets to play with Deron Williams.  That would probably be the best scenario because they would receive rising star Brook Lopez and 2 first round picks.  Howard needs a guard that can get him the ball anywhere on the court, Nelson just isn’t cutting it.