Sources: Magic Trade Dwight Howard to Lakers in Four Team Blockbuster

Earlier today it was reported that four teams were discussing a trade to send Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers. It now appears that the deal is done and will be approved by the NBA tomorrow. All four parties have agreed to the parameters of the trade which is being phoned into league offices as we speak.

Yeah, it’s lopsided and the Magic get royally screwed in this deal but they agreed to it, so you can’t feel that bad for them. As for the Lakers, they managed to get Dwight Howard and keep Pau Gasol which means L.A. is rolling with a core of Nash, Kobe, Pau, Howard and — well does it really matter past that?

There’s multiple moving pieces in this trade with Andre Iguodala going to Denver and Andrew Bynum ending up in Philadelphia with Jason Richardson.

The most ironic part of this trade is that every single team other than the Magic instantly improve to playoff caliber teams. Which pretty much renders the three first round picks that Orlando is getting from each of the teams involved useless.

As for the Andrew Bynum situation, it’s not a foregone conclusion that he won’t sign long term with the Sixers. His stance all summer long is that he will only sign long term with the Lakers but if the Sixers can become contenders with Bynum and he’s the centerpiece of their franchise, he might choose to stay on long term.

Sources say that the Sixers are “willing to gamble” on Bynum signing long term.

But the story here is Dwight Howard’s trade saga finally ending with him in Los Angeles. The Lakers are now instantly the favorites to come out of the West, despite how amazing the Thunder looked and are looking to be this season. Howard also won’t sign a long term deal with the Lakers — that much is certain. He’ll be allowed to become a free agent and then sign with the Lakers. That’s merely a money tactic for Howard as he can get more money in free agency as opposed to signing while under contract.

So the bottom line here is this: Lakers are now favorites to take on the Heat in the Finals, the 76ers and Nuggets improve with the additions of Iguodala and Bynum respectively and the Magic have just the worst front office in the history of front offices.

If the Nets deal was garbage, as Michael Smith said, the Magic have held out for the trade equivalent of chemical waste. They didn’t get Pau, they don’t have Howard, they don’t have Bynum and they don’t have a fighting chance to be a respectable franchise for quite sometime.