Dwight Howard Rumors: Orlando Magic GM Confirms Howard Trade Request to Brooklyn Nets

In a Monday press conference to introduce rookies Andrew Nicholson and Kyle O'Quinn, Orlando Magic general manager Rob Hennigan acknowledged that superstar center Dwight Howard asked Hennigan during a meeting on Friday to trade him to the Brooklyn Nets.

"I did meet with Dwight in Los Angeles on Friday," Hennigan said. "We talked about a lot of things. During our conversation, Dwight did mention his preference is to be traded and that Brooklyn is where he'd like to go."

The Magic website has video of Hennigan, who's only been on the job since June 20th, addressing the Howard situation.

Hennigan vowed to do "what is in the best interest for our team." Certainly he means trading Howard, though it may be difficult to send him to Brooklyn. The Nets don't have appealing trade assets and may use them on someone else anyway: they're working on acquiring All-Star swingman Joe Johnson from the Atlanta Hawks and, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, "are determined 'not to wait around' for a Howard deal to materialize."

Howard in March waived the provision in his contract which would have enabled him to become a free agent on July 1st; had he not done that, he almost assuredly would have agreed to contract terms with Brooklyn already. Instead, he's stuck in Orlando, cannot test free agency until July 1st, 2013, and has put the Magic in the unenviable position of trying to trade him for far less than he's worth.

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