The Los Angeles Lakers are trying to make any changes that the team can before the NBA trade deadline as this team has been a disaster as we cross the halfway point. It has been so bad that LeBron James felt inclined to issue the fanbase an apology on Twitter! Yes, it has been that ugly.
There is speculation that the team is interested in Jerami Grant and might try to pull off a trade for the Detriot wing. That is the biggest trade that the Lakers can make this season, however, it is going to be hard for the purple and gold to outbid other potentially interested teams.
The much more likely outcome is that the Lakers make smaller moves that “improve” the roster. One of those potential moves is trading Dwight Howard, who the team is reportedly interested in moving.
Howard, alongside other players such as DeAndre Jordan and Kent Bazemore, are being shopped so the Lakers can open up a roster spot. Since the team is so high above the luxury tax it does not want to outright cut them and take that tax penalty. The team also reportedly doesn’t want to trade assets to get rid of these players, which is typically what is required in a deal like this.
That rules out Jordan and Bazemore as it is hard seeing a team wanting them unless they are part of something bigger. Howard, though, might hold value to a team in the same way that Rajon Rondo held value to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He is certainly better than Jordan and still has something left in the tank to offer to the right team.
The potential trade packages for Dwight Howard are still not great for the Los Angeles Lakers.
The team is not going to improve all that much in just a Dwight Howard trade but it is still worth breaking down. Here are three realistic trade packages for the former Defensive Player of the Year.
1. Trading Dwight Howard to the Atlanta Hawks
Dwight Howard went back to the Los Angeles Lakers (twice) and would be making his return to the Atlanta Hawks after the first stint did not go so well. While the Hawks do have Clint Capela on the roster, the team does not have any real center depth behind him and even though he would play a small role, having Howard to be the second traditional center on the roster would help the team.
The Hawks have been very disappointing this season and have to look to shuffle things around this season. They already have made one move in trading Cam Reddish to the New York Knicks and trading for Howard could be part of something bigger.
Danilo Gallinari is a prime trade candidate for the Hawks and there is a world in which they trade Gallinari and open up minutes at the four for Onyeka Okongwu, which is his natural position. That opens the door for the team to trade for center depth, hence the move for Howard.
The Hawks have a lot of draft capital over the next two years so they absolutely would be willing to trade a second-round pick for Howard’s services. Atlanta has three first-round picks this year and three second-round picks next year.
With the cap space to fit Howard under the salary cap, that makes Atlanta a team to target to try and get a draft pick for Howard.
2. Trading Dwight Howard to the Denver Nuggets
The Los Angeles Lakers may have just been thoroughly embarrassed by the Denver Nuggets but it should not take off the prospect of trading Howard to the Nuggets in order to get a draft pick in return. Finding a Howard trade is all about finding the team that might actually value him and trade a future pick for his services and Denver is one of those teams.
While the Nuggets have the best center in the league in Nikola Jokic, there is virtually no center depth behind him on the roster. Jokic is far from being a traditional center and the Nuggets do not have a traditional center at all on the roster.
The Nuggets need someone to come off the bench and act like a bruiser near the rim and on the glass, even potentially being brought in just to frustrate the other big (like how Howard did to Jokic in the 2020 playoffs).
How do we know that the Nuggets would be willing to make a trade like this? Well, they made essentially the exact same trade last season for another former Laker. The Nuggets traded Isaiah Hartenstein and two second-round picks to the Cleveland Cavaliers for JaVale McGee last season.
Trading one future second-round pick for Howard? That seems like a no-brainer after what they sent for McGee last season.
3. Trading Dwight Howard to the Chicago Bulls
There are other teams that might make more sense for Dwight Howard but a trade would not be possible. The Charlotte Hornets seem like a really good fit for Howard but they do not have the cap space to take his contract on without sending out another contract, which the Lakers are not going to be interested in doing.
If the Lakers cannot get done one of the first two deals on this list then they should call the NBA team that is second to last in rebounds per game and see if they are interested in Howard’s services. That team is the Chicago Bulls.
Nikola Vucevic is a solid above-average center but the Bulls also do not have much depth behind him. Tony Bradley operates as the team’s backup center in a limiting role but does not have the rebounding nor shot-blocking ability that Howard still has.
Howard would be brought in to essentially be a better version of Bradley. It is not something the Bulls necessarily need to do, but it would improve the team and come at such a cheap cost of a second-round pick that is four years in the future.
Howard has a recent former teammate on the Bulls in Alex Caruso that could vouch for the big man and help the trade happen. With the Bulls being the no. 1 seed in the East, they should look to improve in any way they can and could benefit from having an experienced veteran off the bench instead of an inexperienced Bradley.