Howard Will Not Sign Extension

(Derick E. Hingle/US Presswire)

And so the Dwight Howard Saga continues.  Dwight Howard's agent has stated that Howard did not decide to sign a contract extension if traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.

"Dwight's position has remained unchanged since the end of this past season.  He fully intends to explore free agency at the end of the next season, regardless of what team trades for him, including Brooklyn." -Dan Fegan, Howard's Agent

With this being the last year in Howard's contract the longest extension he would be able to sign is two years if he remains with the Orlando Magic and three years if he is traded to another team.  If Howard waits until his current deal expires he will be able to sign a five year deal for as much as $116.9 million.

According to Magic General Manager Rob Hennigan Howard told the Magic he would like to be traded to the Nets above any other team.  But when trade between the Nets and the Magic fell through for Dwight Howard Lakers arose as the top team in pursuit of Howard trying to include the Houston Rockets and Cleveland Cavaliers as potential third parties in the trade.

With Dwight Howard not signing an extension the trade for him is going to get interesting.  The Magic are going to try to get rid of him that way if he decides to leave in free agency next off season they will have at least got something in return for him, but no team is really going to want to trade for him if they're not 100% sure that he's not going to stay another year.  Hmmm this may go down to the wire and with Dan Fegan, Howard's agent, openly stating that Howard has no intention of signing an extension it wouldn't surprise me if teams back off in trying to trade for him and just wait to pursue him in the free agency.  Stay tuned as the Howard Saga continues.

Howard Remains in Orlando

After much attention throughout the season surrounding Dwight Howard asking to be traded from the Orlando Magic, Howard has decided to remain in Orlando, well at least for another year.  Right before the trade deadline Howard signed papers that agreed to waive the early termination option in his contract, guaranteeing that he will be a Magic for the 2012-2013 season.

Dwight had continuously asked for a trade starting during preseason up until this week.  Speculations began to swirl during preseason that Howard would up a Laker or maybe a Net or maybe even a Celtic.  The drama surrounding Howard being traded topped the "Melo"drama of last year and kept fans tuned in to see if the best "big man" in the league today would stay or leave Orlando.  Well now we know that Howard opted to stay in Orlando in hopes of giving the Magic a chance at a run in the playoffs.  Howard felt by the decision he made today it will give the Magic the opportunity to build a championship contender team next season.  We'll see how this turns out, maybe now the Magic organization may include Howard on some of the decisions they make, as the reason Howard asked for a trade was due to the frustration he had with the Magic front office for not including him in decisions so they were building a team "around" him.

Lakers Deal Fisher in Multiplayer Trade

Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images 

The Lakers proved at the beginning of the season that nobody was safe, except for Kobe, when they attempted to trade Gasol and Odom.  Now Derek Fisher has become the latest to get the ax by the "Lakeshow".  After acquiring Ramon Sessions earlier today before the trade deadline, the Lakers decided to trade long time point guard Derek Fisher in a multiplayer trade involving the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Houston Rockets.  Fisher was traded to the Houston Rockets for Jordan hill as well as the Rockets first round draft pick they had acquired from Dallas earlier this season.

In return for receiving Sessions from the Cavaliers, the Lakers will lose their first round pick in this year draft to Cleveland.  The Lakers also received Christian Eyenga and the Cavs received Luke Walton and Jason Kapono.  If the Lakers were to miss the playoffs this year, they will keep their first round draft pick the Cavs are supposed to receive as part of the deal.

Hello Los Angeles

The NBA finally game LA Clippers and the New Orleans the thumbs up to
send CP3 to LA.

After many speculations that Chris Paul would end up with the Lakers before the season begins, CP3 is officially headed to LA, as a Clipper.  Trade talks for Paul originally began with CP3 heading to the Lakers last week but the trade was vetoed by the NBA.  All trades must be approved by the NBA and the trade for Paul to the Lakers was halted due to "basketball reasons". Whatever that means.  But after that trade fail the NBA opened trade talks for CP3 back up and although everyone assumed that the Lakers would eventually be graced with Paul's presence it was the Clippers, the JV of LA as they are called, who rose on top this time in Los Angeles.  After the Clippers first trade discussion for the star PG came to an end feeling that the asking price for Paul was too high, talks were reopened on Monday after the Clippers acquired veteran Chauncey Billups after he was waived by the New York Knicks under the new amnesity clause in the CBA.  After speculation all day the NBA finally approved the trade between the Clippers and the Hornets sending Paul to Los Angeles to join Blake Griffin and new addition Billups and the Hornets received Guard Eric Gordon, Center Chris Kaman, Forward Al-Faruoq Aminu and the 2012 first round pick from Minnesota.  Along with Paul the Clippers will also receive two future second round draft picks.  The trade for Paul had turned into a 'circus' as some called it, with it seeming like no deal was being approved by the league to send Paul away from the NBA owned Hornets.  It was stated that among the Clippers and the Lakers, the Celtics, the Warriors as well as the Knicks, in which CP3 best friend Carmelo Anthony currently plays, were all attempting to make a bid to bring Paul to their town.  In the end Paul ended up in his original destination just with a different team where with the big lights of Hollywood I'm sure Paul and Griffin will shine.  It would have been interesting though to see what happened to the Hornets if the trade did not go through though because before the trade the Hornets only had seven players and eight players are required to suit up in order for the team to play.  I for one am happy that the drama around Who is going to get Chris Paul has come to an end, although it seems that the drama is just getting started with Dwight Howard.  Wonder if he will remain a Magic.  Stay tuned to see what else is happening with trades and players.

UPDATE: On the Move

Now that the NBA is official on its way with training camps beginning today, some players are finding themselves in new homes.  Below are some of the major trades and free agency deals that have taken place thus far.

• Tyson Chandler has decided to move up north with the New York Knicks after winning a championship with the Dallas Mavericks last season.  Chandler and the Knicks reached a deal this morning just in time for the first day of training camp.
• Celtics have traded Glen "Big Baby" Davis to the Magic in exchange for Bass.  It was reported at the end of last week that the Celtics were willing to trade Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green for Chris Paul.
• Shane Battier has decided to take his talents to South Beach.  The former Rocket made a deal with
  Heat this morning along with Mario Chalmers who decided to remain with Miami.
• Caron Butler agreed to a deal with the Clippers after coming off of an injury he suffered during last season with the Dallas Mavericks.
• Atlanta Hawks agreed to a 1 year veteran minimum deal with Tracy McGrady who was a member of the Detroit Pistons last season.
• Vince Carter and Gilbert Arenas both are now searching for teams as Carter was waived by the Suns today and Arenas was waived by the Magic today as well.
• Shannon Brown signed a deal with the Phoenix Suns after deciding to leave the LA Lakers.
• J.J. Barea followed in Tyson Chandler's footsteps and decided not to return to the Mavericks and signing with the Timberwolves.
• Mike Bibby did not resign with the Miami Heats and took his talents to the Big Apple signing with the New York Knicks.
• The Clippers are making big moves signing Chauncey Billups, right before the trade went through for Chris Paul, after being waived by the Knicks.
• Vince Carter went to the 2011 NBA Champs, Dallas Mavericks, after being waived by the Suns.
• After breathing life back into the Atlanta Hawks, Jamal Crawford has decided to sign with the TrailBlazers.
• Richard "Rip" Hamilton has left the Pistons after all these years and has signed with the Chicago Bulls.
• Lamar Odom was traded to the Dallas Mavericks for a draft pick after the original trade sending Chris Paul to the Lakers, Odom to the Hornets and Gasol to the Rockers fell through.

Stay tuned for all of the moves that are yet to come.

Everyone Wants CP3

It seems like just earlier this year we were dealing with the same drama with Carmelo Anthony, but the drama around one of Melo's best friends Chris Paul, has taken trade drama to an entirely new level.  While Lakers fans were ecstatic because yesterday evening a trade has taken place involving the LA Lakers that would change their team in a major way.  On the other hand while the fans were super excited and preparing to welcome the superstar to LA, the owners had another say on the trade.  With the New Orleans Hornets being owned by the NBA all 29 owners have a say in what goes on with the team.  Almost a year ago Phil Jackson stated once the league acquired the Hornets when its time to trade Chris Paul is going to be a major problem. Well boy was Jackson right.  After the buzz of Paul going to LA begin to spread the owners who did not agree, which was pretty much all the owners except for those involved in the trade, emailing Commissioner David Stern asking him to put a stop to the trade.  Most owners stated that trading Paul to the Lakers went against the competitive balance that had been preached the entire lockout.  Shortly after 10 pm, only 3 hours after it had been announced that Paul would be going to the Lakers, it was announced that Stern had put a kill to the CP3 trade to LA.  If the trade would have been upheld Chris Paul would have been sent to the Lakers, Pau Gasol to the Houston Rockets, and Lamar Odom, along with 3 players from the Rockets, would have been sent to the Hornets.  Before the trade had taken place it was stated that the New York Knicks were also pursuing CP3, which is really where he wanted to be in order to play with best friend Carmelo Anthony. Only issue with that trade is that Melo is the reason CP3 could join the Knicks, due to the fact that the Knicks had traded its players that would be appealing to other teams in order to get Carmelo Anthony before the trade deadline last season.  It was also reported earlier this week that the Boston Celtics were willing to trade Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green for Paul.  Paul showed up for training camp with the Hornets but it will be interesting to see how things will turn out.  The 3 teams involved in the trade plans on appealing the decision by the league, Paul was planning on suing the league, and it has now been reported that the league has now reopened trade talks for all trades involving Paul.  It will be interesting to see if Paul do end up in LA, or if the Knicks will find away to bring him to NY or if the Boston Celtics will revisit the idea of trading Rondo and Green for Paul.  It was also reported that if Paul was not traded by Monday he would pursue a lawsuit against the league through the players association.  If Paul remains with the Hornets this year he will be a free agent at the end of this season so he can go to whichever team he feels is the best fit for him that offers him a deal.  Stay tuned to see how this turns out.