Dwight Howard Rumors: Thursday

3:13pm: One league executive tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports that, with Nash on board, the Lakers may not need assurances that Howard will sign long-term to acquire him. Wojnarowski adds that, while Kobe Bryant won't actively try to recruit Howard, sources says Kobe would welcome Dwight as a teammate.

Wojnarowski also says the Nets are "working relentlessly" on a trade for Howard, but that the Magic's preferred target remains Andrew Bynum.

2:03pm: The Magic and Nets are "still plugging away" on trade discussions for a deal involving Dwight Howard, reports Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. A source close to negotiations tells Berger that "everything is in play" for the Magic as the team continues to talk with multiple teams.

Berger echoes something we've heard before, suggesting that cap relief will be just as important in a trade package for the Magic as players and picks. Orlando is hoping to unload big contracts like Hedo Turkoglu's and Jason Richardson's in any deal, which makes the Nets and Lakers challenging fits. Both clubs would likely need to find a third team to facilitate a deal in order to give the Magic the cap relief they desire.

We heard yesterday that the Nets were successful in their attempts to get Mirza Teletovic to agree to the taxpayer mid-level exception ($3.09MM) rather than the full mid-level ($5MM). This means that Brooklyn is free to exceed the tax apron ($74.3MM) this season, which allows the club greater cap flexibility not only in talks for Howard but in re-signing its own free agents.

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