It’s been a relatively unusual five days for the NBA. After the league vetoed a trade on Thursday teams officially opened camp on Friday.
The trade speculation surrounding players like Chris Paul and Dwight Howard has been nonstop, with rumors connecting to players to nearly a third of the teams around the league.
Now, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, it appears that the Orlando Magic might not be considering trading Howard at all.
Windhorst claims that the Magic currently have no intention of trading Howard, and might be looking for ways to get him to extend his contract.
After demanding a trade over the weekend Howard has backed off a little bit since then.
“I love this city. There is no place I’d rather be but Orlando. I just want to make sure we have the right things here so we can win a championship. I’m all about change. If you’re willing to change and you’re willing to do what it takes to win then, you know, you got me.”
This won’t come as good news for the reeling Los Angeles Lakers. Rumors on Thursday said the team was within 48 hours of acquiring Howard, but that was before their deal for Chris Paul fell apart. After trading a disgruntled Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks the Lakers are looking for any sign of life.