There is a lot of extra weight on Dwight Howard’s extremely broad shoulders today.

Following a year-long process in which he’s expressed his desire to leave Orlando, been openly courted by other teams, bemoaned his situation with the Magic, and been the subject of the most scrutinized free agent flirtation since LeBron James’ Decision, it’s crunch time.

Will Dwight Howard get traded? Will he hit free agency? Is he off to the Nets? Could he wind up on – perish the thought – the Heat? There’s one possibility, though, that seemingly no one considered: the prospect of Howard staying with the Magic. But it might happen… for now. Or maybe not.

Yesterday, Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated added a new wrinkle to the Dwight Howard free agency story that is equal parts inexplicable and terrifying. And, as a Heat fan, I couldn’t be happier.

After the jump: What, exactly, would have to happen for Dwight to go to Miami, and what, exactly, would happen to the NBA?

The Orlando Magic are doing everything in their power to keep Dwight Howard ahead of Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, and in addition to their front office efforts, they’re getting help from an unexpected source.

Prior to the start of tonight’s game between the Chicago Bulls and the Orlando Magic, Dwight Howard met with the media to give his scouting report of Derrick Rose in the most entertaining way possible. He first dropped a little Charles Barkley impression, which was OK, but he then took the opportunity to get a dig in on Shaq. Oh, he went there.

Somehow, some way, Dwight Howard eats this cookie with no hands.

Meet Margo Lorbecke. She’s a junior at the University of Central Florida, studying pre-med, and she has an interesting proposition for Orlando Magic big man Dwight Howard. No, she doesn’t want him to take her to a sorority formal. She actually wants to challenge him in a free-throw shooting contest. Interesting.

The Orlando Magic have pulled Dwight Howard off the trading block, meaning that proposed deals to the Lakers, Clippers, or Nets are on hold indefinitely. Wasn’t one of the only good byproducts of this lockout supposed to be the few blockbuster-filled weeks of player movements and signings before the season started? Weren’t we promised that? Whatever happened to that? [ESPN]

Somebody needs to trade for Chris Paul, don’t they? It appears, however, that as of this morning that somebody won’t be the Los Angeles Lakers. After taking a re-do and resubmitting the 3-team deal to the league offices for a second look, it appears that the deal is dead, for now, and the Lakers have set their sights on landing Dwight Howard instead.