Dwight Howard trade rumors: Teams calling, but Lakers not biting

Howard is from the Atlanta area, and there is a growing feeling around the league that the Lakers could be convinced to trade him and get something in return in case he bolts Los Angeles via free agency this summer.

According to Fox Sports Ohio’s Sam Amico, some believe that Bryant doesn’t care if the Lakers retain Howard. Bryant reportedly told the New York Post during All-Star weekend that “it doesn’t matter” if Howard is traded before the deadline. The Post also reported that the locker room tension between the two during the All-Star game was “icy.”

Answer: it probably won’t. Howard told media Friday that Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak said he had no plans to trade him, and even the report from CBS said the talks are “preliminary”. But while we’re on the subject ... Let’s take a second to savor how disastrous it would be. Because if anyone wants to seriously discuss this trade, we need to mention that there’s no athlete in all of sports who’d be a worse fit with the Boston fans and media. It’d be like sending him to a city full of Stan Van Gundys, only everyone’s drunker and meaner.

It would all be so amazing and so, so cruel.

“I just spoke w/Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak about supposed D12-for-Rondo trade talks w/Celtics. He denied it strongly,” Broussard tweeted.

Howard, who is in the final year of his contract and will be a free agent after the season, told reporters on Friday that he’d been assured by Kupchak that the team is not shopping him on the trade market.