Howard officially has become a Los Angeles Laker as the Magic sent him off in a four-team trade that involved eight other players, as sources tell ESPN.
Here's how it went down:
Lakers Receive: Dwight Howard, Earl Clark, Chris Duhon
Nuggets Receive: Andre Iguodala
76ers Receive: Andrew Bynum, Jason Richardson
Magic Receive: Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Nikola Vuvecic, Josh McRoberts, Maurice Harkless, three first-round picks, one protected first-round pick
For Orlando, they could have gotten a WAY better deal than what just happened. However, it's their fault for not trading him any sooner. It seems as if they just waited too long.
As for the Nuggets, despite losing a solid sixth man scorer in Harrington and solid defensive guard in Afflalo, they get a little mix of both now with Iguodala on board. Iguodala provides a nice defensive asset to the team along with an added scoring punch. He can also play shooting guard and small forward.
As for Philadelphia, getting Andrew Bynum is a big-plus, along with Richardson. Though Bynum is a pain, he can still put up numbers. Look to see him get a lot of touches down-low this season. However, what really confuses is me is trading away both Iguodala and Harkless! Didn't they bring in Harkless to replace Iggy in the first place? They do get Jason Richardson to help fill the void, but he's an old veteran now. Kind of confusing of them here.
For Los Angeles, they get the best end of the deal. They get Howard and two helpful assets for the bench. It's going to be very scary seeing this line-up next season that has Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant, Metta World Peace, Pau Gasol and Howard.
If all goes well, look to see the Lakers in the Finals this season. Heck, maybe Kobe can finally capture that sixth ring so he can take a nab towards Michael Jordan. This must be fun for many fans now, as there finally can possibly be a Kobe-LeBron Finals match-up.
This trade is going to change a lot of things. We'll see how it plays out.
Josh Dhani is the founder of FootBasket. You can read more about him at his website. Follow him on Twitter @joshdhani.
