Lakers News: LA Is Wrong to Hang onto Dwight Howard

The writing seems to have been on the wall for weeks: Dwight Howard does not want to be a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, at least as long as Kobe Bryant's in town. 

And that is precisely why Mitch Kupchak should be looking to shop the All-Star center, because if he doesn't, the consequences could be devastating. 

Last summer, Kupchak looked like he'd assembled one of the most powerful rosters in NBA history when he managed to get four future Hall of Famers in Howard, Bryant, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol on the floor at the same time, but things haven't exactly gone according to plan. 

Nash, Gasol and Howard have struggled through injuries, the team's on its second coach of the season, and Howard has been non-committal on his plans beyond 2012-13. 



Sure, it looks like this team might be able to pull things together in time to squeak into the postseason, but at least as things stand today, making it out of the first round seems completely out of the question. 

Which is why Kupchak needs to cut his losses and deal Howard before he loses the best big man in the game for nothing when free agency opens this summer. 

For whatever reason, though, the Lakers seem intent on hanging onto Howard (via Yahoo! Sports), at least publicly:

Howard will become a free agent at the end of the season. Earlier Friday he told reporters, "(The Lakers) told me they weren't going to trade me. I'd be surprised. They told me they wouldn't trade me. That's what (Kupchak) said."

Kupchak said much the same thing in a recent interview with Newsday.
Howard refused to say anything definitive about whether he plans to stay with the Lakers after this season.

"The only thing that matters is the present," Howard said. "And right now there's no need for me to talk about what happens at the end of the season. There's no need to go back and forth about it, I just ...

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