NBA

The Nets’ Dwight Howard Trade Is Supposedly Dead, So The Trade Rumors Might End For At Least Five Seconds

You’ve been inundated with Dwight Howard trade rumors lately. You’re probably tired of them. We get it – we look at this stuff all day, and it’s pretty much all we’re seeing, too, because frankly, there’s not a whole lot else to talk about at the moment, being in the middle of so many offseasons and an All-Star break on top of those. Even so, though, you’d probably rather just hear about nothing than the latest Kris Humphries sign-and-trade scenario that will finally lead to this thing going through.

Well, on that front, we might finally have good news temporarily, maybe, unless you’re a Nets fan – the Nets have reportedly broken off talks to cut the proposed 23-team, 219-player deal (numbers are approximate). Earlier today, the talk that today was the last day the Nets would do anything Howard-related – they’d either finish off the deal, or move on to other things. Apparently, they’ve done the latter.

And that may mean – finally – a reprieve from these constant rumors. No more Dwight. No more jokes about that “Loyalty” t-shirt. No more Kris Humphries contract talk (which, we guess, is still better than Kardashian talk, to be fair). No more talk about Brook Lopez’s subpar rebounding. No more different iterations featuring different teams seemingly every hour.

… For now. Because if Howard doesn’t go to the Nets, the Lakers talk will heat up. Andrew Bynum. The Rockets. The potential Nash/Kobe/Dwight/Gasol foursome (which would be something). Howard is leaving the Magic sooner or later, and unfortunately, the death of one set of rumors won’t be enough to quiet them all. And who knows – maybe the Nets talks aren’t even really dead yet. This is what Magic GM Rob Hennigan had to say about it all this afternoon:

“We haven’t ruled out everything. [W]e continue to be process driven. We’re going to stay committed to that philosophy. I don’t think we can put any concrete parameters around everything. I don’t think that makes a whole lot of sense.”

In addition to that heaping pile of almost nothing, Hennigan did allow that the Nets talks are now in “a stationary position” – but stationary and six feet under are vastly different. The Nets might be about to sign Lopez to an offer sheet – but who’s to say they couldn’t magically swoop back in at the 11th hour and figure something out then? Not us. Maybe the Nets supposedly ending these talks really does mean Howard isn’t bound for Brooklyn and that those rumors can finally be put to rest, but in this endless saga, we’ll believe it when we don’t hear it.