It’s no secret that the Los Angeles Lakers have had their eye on Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard for quite a while now. But according to multiple sources, Howard’s agent, Donald Fegan, has told the Lakers organization this week that his client would not sign a contract extension with them if they were to land him in a deal before the March 15^th trade deadline.

No specific reason has been given regarding this, but the overwhelming consensus is that Howard has no desire to play second-fiddle to Kobe Bryant out in L.A. Howard has established himself as the league’s best center for several years now, and has always been the number one offensive option in Orlando.

Howard’s unwillingness to sign an extension with Los Angeles might have knocked the wheels right off a rumored trade between the Lakers and Magic, that John Cherwa of the L.A. Times reported earlier this week. In the article, Cherwa states that the Lakers, Magic, and Toronto Raptors were constructing a three-way deal, which would ship Howard to the Lakers on March 1^st.

In return, the Magic would receive the two Laker All Star big men, center Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol, along with point guard Jose Calderon from the Raptors. In addition to Howard, the Lakers would also get Magic point guard Jameer Nelson and forward Hedo Turkoglu. It had not been determined what the Raptors would get out of the deal.

Howard’s indecisiveness concerning the idea of either leaving or staying in Orlando before 2013 arrives has been one of the major storylines throughout this shortened NBA season.

If he were to leave central Florida, it is well-known that the teams appearing to be contenders for his services are the Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, and soon-to-be Brooklyn Nets.

Upon hearing the latest from Howard’s agent, Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak is now left with one of the most difficult decisions that he will ever have to make if Howard and the Magic ultimately decide to split ways before the deadline.

He will have to decide – if the Magic and Howard do decide to go in different directions – whether or not he is willing to risk giving up excellent assets such as Bynum and Gasol, in hopes that the front office could convince Howard to change his mind once again and sign a long-term deal with the Lakers.

The reward, if the Lakers are able to acquire Howard and successfully lock him up, could be the presence of a similar matchup problem that teams faced against Los Angeles during the Kobe-Shaq days of the early 2000’s. O’Neal was also the league’s dominant center during that era, and alongside Bryant the two were able to win three consecutive titles from 2000-2002, establishing a powerful dynasty.

Laker fans could certainly envision their team making this type of run with Howard at center.

But the risk might be far too great. Kupchak’s biggest fear is putting his team in the same position that the Nets have now found themselves in, with All Star point guard Deron Williams.

New Jersey gave up a multitude of young pieces and draft picks in order to bring in Williams, despite not receiving confirmation that he would sign a contract extension that would keep him with them past the 2012 season. If Williams chooses to leave the currently non-contending Nets this summer in free agency, the trade would have essentially been for nothing.

That’s exactly the situation that might keep Kupchak from pulling the trigger on a Howard deal.

If Kupchak has an opportunity to get Howard into a Laker uniform, his final decision will either turn him into one of the most loved men in all of southern California, or one of the most hated and unemployed in the area.

Let’s see if Howard and the Magic give him that chance.

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The 2011 NBA regular season is in serious jeopardy of not starting on time as the lockout continues late into September. The 2011 season is scheduled to tip-off on November 1, as last season’s champions, the Dallas Mavericks, are set to host the Chicago Bulls. As the days march on, that start date looks less and less likely to be accurate.

With players and owners still in disagreement over the new collective bargaining agreement, training camps and the first week of preseason games, from October 9-15, were both cancelled Friday afternoon. Players were scheduled to report to training camp on October 3.

“We have regretfully reached the point on the calendar where we are not able to open training camps on time, and need to cancel the first week of preseason games,” Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “We will make further decisions as warranted.” This is unfavorable news for NBA fans, as the Summer League was already cancelled.

The Summer League serves as a venue for coaches to evaluate the talent level of rookies and young bench players. While the Summer League is not integral to having an NBA season, the combined cancellations do not provide hope for a prompt start. The only time the NBA season did not start on time due to a work stoppage was during the 1998-99 season, where the regular season was cut to 50 games.

The main issue of the 1998 lockout was that owners wanted to cut player salaries and set a salary cap because player salaries were significantly taking away from earnings. During negotiations in 1998, the problem wasn’t directly dealt with. While players’ salaries were capped between $9 million and $14 million, each party agreed to institute a soft cap.

This allowed teams to exceed the cap and pay players as much as they wanted if the teams paid a luxury tax to the NBA on the player’s salary. That decision to allow an exception is becoming a big problem 12 years later, and owners want to decrease salaries and set a hard cap.

The hard cap would prevent teams like the Los Angeles Lakers from having a $91 million payroll, when the salary cap is $57.7 million. The Lakers dish out $17 million more than the Orlando Magic, the team with the second largest payroll. Unlike smaller teams, the Lakers have a huge fan base to draw from, and can generate the revenue needed to pay the luxury tax.

There is a big push for the hard cap from smaller market teams like the Golden State Warriors, who are finding it hard to compete because they can’t pay high level talent what teams like the Lakers can pay. However, installing a hard cap would decrease every player’s salary, an issue the players are not willing to concede to at this moment.

The belief of the players is that they only earn a small piece of the money pie, and the owners want them to have an even smaller piece. It isn’t shocking to see that money is the main component for the cause of the lockout. However, owners and players need to come to an agreement soon before they lose something they both couldn’t exist without: a fan base.

 
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