A potential trade of Dwight Howard to the Brooklyn Nets is dead after a last-gasp attempt to work a trade fell through Wednesday afternoon, a source said.
Sources said the Nets decided they had to know by Wednesday if they could complete a trade for Howard.
General manager Billy King is meeting with the agent for center Brook Lopez in Los Angeles on Wednesday, sources said, and it was expected that he would either sign Lopez with the intent on dealing him to the Orlando Magic for Howard or sign Lopez with the idea of keeping him and moving forward without Howard.
The Nets were convinced the chance of making a deal for Howard will be undermined as teams sign free agents and eliminate their flexibility to be trade partners in providing the draft picks, salary-cap room and young talent the Magic are seeking for their disgruntled All-Star center.
Lopez’s agent has been pushing the Nets to either sign Lopez themselves or do a sign-and-trade by the end of the day, sources told ESPN.com’s Chad Ford. The Nets are fearful that Lopez will receive an offer sheet from another team if they don’t act by the end of the day, which would kill the opportunity to move him in a sign-and-trade for Howard.
There are rising fears within the Nets, sources told ESPN.com’s Marc Stein, that the Portland Trail Blazers will come after Lopez — a restricted free agent — as their next frontcourt target after a bid to sign fellow restricted free agent Roy Hibbert away from Indiana has been foiled by the Pacers, who have matched the four-year offer to Hibbert worth nearly $60 million that Portland had intended to offer but ultimately decided against.
On Tuesday night, the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers rejoined the Nets as the most serious potential trade partners with the Magic on a Howard deal, sources close to the process told Stein.
One source close to the process told ESPN.com that the Trail Blazers and Charlotte Bobcats have informed Lopezs camp that they are prepared to sign him to four-year max offer sheets.
Sources told ESPN.com that the Rockets are discussing a multitude of trade scenarios with the Magic, offering to serve both as the team that would acquire Howard in a direct trade between the clubs and also as a third team that would participate in a trade that lands Howard with the Lakers and brings All-Star center Andrew Bynum to Houston.
Sources say that new Magic general manager Rob Hennigan might feel more comfortable taking back a package of youngsters, recent draftees and future first-round draft picks — while shedding some long-term salary as well — than taking on Bynum as Howard’s replacement and facing a similar challenge in convincing him to commit to the franchise long-term like the Magic have dealt with for months with Howard.
WRITTEN BY Ric Bucher | ESPN The Magazine & FULL STORY HERE
