NBA Free Agnecy 2013: Marc Stein Says Houston Rockets Will Sign Dwight Howard?

ESPN’s Marc Stein, trying to promote his appearance on ESPN this afternoon said that if he was forced to pick who free agent Dwight Howard would pick right this moment, he says it would be the Houston Rockets.

Per Stein:

"I’m obviously no Hakeem. CAN’T say, like Dream, that Rockets have 85% chance. But if you forced me to pick one at 1:30 ET … have to go HOU"

There’s no ‘inside’ source pointing Stein towards this decision, it’s just his opinion on what he knows of the situation, but it certainly has to have Rocket fans feeling pretty good about their chances to land this years prized free agent.

It’s reasonable to assume that if Howard does decided to sign with the Rockets, the Los Angeles Lakers would begin trade talks with the Rockets so they at least come away with some type of pieces.

The most likely scenario would be some type of swap centered around a package involving big man Omer Asik and point guard Jeremy Lin, both of whom are each owed about $17 million dollars of the next two seasons. It would give the Lakers some viable talent for the next two years but would also give them financial flexibility for 2014 (they’d be expiring deals) and 2015 (books would be clear). It’s also possible they could attempt to acquire a trade exception instead (like they acquired from the Odom deal to acquire Steve Nash).