If Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard wants to sign with another team this offseason, the Lakers have no intention of moving him in a sign-and-trade, according to Lakers Nation's Mark Heisler.
The Lakers hope to re-sign Howard, but if he decides to bolt, they would be fine with banking the nearly $50 million in salary and luxury tax savings. Los Angeles would then have even more cap space available for the free agent class of 2014, which could include LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony among other stars.
If the Lakers are unwilling to sign-and-trade Howard, that eliminates the already highly unlikely scenario of the big man and Chris Paul teaming up with the Clippers, which is the preferred option for the two superstars. For that pairing to happen with the Clippers, the belief is that Howard would have to be signed-and-traded for Blake Griffin. And as it stands, neither team seems very interested in executing such a deal.
The Lakers' opposition against a sign-and-trade would also hurt the Houston Rockets' chances of teaming up Howard and Paul. The Rockets are already trying to open up max salary space for a run at Howard, but it would be feasible to make a run at both if they were able to deal the combined $16.8 million owed to Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin.
But the Lakers have no interest in taking on that salary, as they would rather save the money and pay a more impact player down the line.
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