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Trading with the enemy?

Just when you thought this bizarro season for the Los Angeles Lakers couldn’t take another twist along comes a CBS Sports Report claiming the rival Boston Celtics held preliminary talks surrounding a Dwight Howard for Rajon Rondo swap.

Showing shades of Howard’s awkward entrance into a Stan Van Gundy press conference this report comes mere hours after D12 stated Mitch Kupchak told him he was safe in L.A. for the rest of the season.

Did I mention Rondo is gone for the balance of the season with a torn ACL and the Lakers already have 99-year-old Steve Nash under contract for two more season beyond this one? But in a season when Mike D’Anonti is coaching the Lake Show to new lows while the Celtics actually improved without Rondo I guess anything is KG.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Mitch Kupchak told the L.A. Times he has no intentions of making a move prior to the NBA’s trade deadline this month. That would mean the Lakers are going to “roll they dice” on Dwight Howard hoping to throw enough dead presidents at the free-agent-to-be this offseason that he’ll stay in LA. That would also mean there isn’t any help coming before the Lakers’ playoff hopes get put on life support so I guess sixth man Pau Gasol is here to stay.

Kupchak lays it out in plain English.

“We will not make a trade. We will not trade Dwight Howard.  We have no intention of making a trade.  It’s unlikely that we’ll make any trade with any of our principal players.  To make another change at this time of the year behind the eight-ball like we are, I think that would make it more difficult.  The talent is there.  We have to find our way.”

You’ll forgive me if I don’t buy Kupchak’s comments. Keep in mind that Jim Buss said there would be “no major moves” made during this past offseason. Then after acquiring Steve Nash, Kupchak proclaimed it was “doubtful” the team could make another blockbuster deal. So I guess trading for both Nash and the aforementioned Howard doesn’t count as a major move. Maybe that label is reserved for the instances in which the Lakers help the US State Department in trading black market weapons for hostages…I guess…

That said I could see the Lakers standing with this roster for the remainder of the year. Oh, sure, a Dante Cunningham might somehow appear in Purple and Gold but I don’t see Jim Buss ejecting this early in the process.

Then again, clearly Kupchak likes to manipulate the media a bit perhaps in hopes of hiding his true intentions. What does that mean, ultimately? Expect everything…and nothing.