Dwight Howard's Pending Trade to Los Angeles Proves Again NBA Stars Will Always Have Cake, Eat It Too

In the end, all the Orlando Magic could do was get out of Dwight Howard's way.

Sure, general manager Rob Hennigan did about as well as he could at this point, hauling in three first-round picks along with Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington and Nikola Vucevic in exchange for Howard.

That doesn't hide the fact that the franchise center was in control the entire time, however, simply biding his time until the team bowed to his pressure and figured out a way to make it happen.

Yes, Orlando can take the moral high ground and point to the fact that they didn't send Howard to the Nets, his preferred destination. But perhaps they should have.

The last proposed deal New Jersey Brooklyn submitted matches up awful favorably to Orlando's eventual haul, regardless of the PR hit that would have come from bowing down to Howard's every wish. Instead, they shipped him to Hollywood — a desirable destination, regardless — and the price of waiting may ultimately leave them bankrupt from a personnel standpoint.

All the Lakers really had to give up was Andrew Bynum, a mercurial center with anger issues and bum knees, and in return they get the second coming of Shaquille O'Neal to pair with Pau Gasol. Kobe Bryant may not have had to lose all that weight this offseason after all — he won't be carrying that team anymore.

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"Yeah, I play for Denver now. Right here!"

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Never!

Can't wait for that collective moment as a nation when we all realize that we like the Heat way more than we like the Lakers.

— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) August 10, 2012