9:51 am Jul. 11, 2012
A massive, four-team deal to bring Dwight Howard to the Brooklyn Nets from the Orlando Magic has fallen apart, and now the Magic are preparing to deal Howard elsewhere.
There are multiple reasons the big trade didn't happen. For one thing, no one appears to have convinced Kris Humphries, who needed to agree to go to Cleveland and sign a one-year deal in order for the rest of the deal to happen, that it was in his interests to do so. And it sounds like Cleveland wasn't interested in a Humphries marriage, either.
Without other teams to make the contracts line up, the Nets aren't in a position to absorb a number of other Orlando contracts. Nor do they have any additional draft picks to include in their offer.
They are still theoretically in a position to trade for Howard in a straight-up, two-team deal. But about the best the Nets can do in that case is sign Brook Lopez to a max contract to match up with Howard's salary, then deal Lopez and a pair of first-round picks for Howard. That's it.
It wouldn't be hard for teams like the Lakers, the Rockets and the Hawks to offer Orlando something substantially more than that.
If Howard truly wants to go to the Nets once he is a free agent next summer, he'll have the right. But he would have to agree to give up roughly $100 million in the process, since teams over the salary cap, like the Nets, will only have the veteran exception to offer Howard—roughly $3 million.
There's no reason to doubt Howard's reported desire to play for the Nets. But that's asking a lot.
Elsewhere in New York sports:
M.L.B.
The National League crushed the American League, 8-0. Former Yankee Melky Cabrera was named M.V.P. of the game. Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano both had hits in defeat, while R.A. Dickey pitched a scoreless inning for the N.L.
KNICKS
The Daily News cites a league source to report that Jeremy Lin is upset at the Knicks for allowing him to sign an offer sheet with the Rockets, even though he'll probably be getting paid more as a result of this process that he would have in a straight signing.
