Author: Michael Pina

7:17pm: Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer says that there is nothing imminent between the Cavaliers and Humphries, which stifles some of the momentum of a Dwight to Nets deal for now. She also agrees with Adrian Wojnarowski in that the Cavaliers are using their interest in Humphries exclusively as a means of stockpiling assets and draft picks.  

7:04pm: Following up his earlier tweet that a Nets deal was "very close", RealGM's Jarrod Rudolph acknowledges the chance that news is being "leaked" in order to get other teams to improve their trading bids to Orlando. 

6:42pm: HoopsWorld's Steve Kyler tweeted earlier that the Hawks, Lakers, and Mavericks are also still involved in talks with the Magic. His latest tweet says that Atlanta's offer includes "luggage from the Joe Johnson deal."

6:35pm: ESPN's John Hollinger tweets that the Nets still have to sweeten the deal with the Cavaliers, as Cleveland would hypothetically be able to sign Humphries outright but have no interest in doing so.

6:28pm: Jarrod Rudolph of RealGM spoke with a source that says Nets GM Billy King is "very close" to acquiring Howard and that a deal could be completed "very soon" (Twitter link). 

6:20pm: David Aldridge of NBA.com (via Twitter) addresses speculation of Cleveland's involvement in a deal, saying that there is "nothing substantive"with the Cavaliers right now. He also adds that the Nets are currently reaching out to "any team with room" in order to help facilitate a deal. 

5:01pm: Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports tweets that Andrew Bynum has shown no inclination to agree to an extension if he is sent to Orlando in exchange for Howard. Also, Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld added (Twitter link) that in addition to the Cavaliers, the 76ers also remain candidates to be the thrid team involved in a deal that would send Howard to Brooklyn. 

4:43pm: The Nets are "making progress" on finding a third team to take on Kris Humphries in a larger deal that would send Dwight Howard to Brooklyn, tweets CBSSports.com's Ken Berger.That third team might be the Cavaliers.

1:25pm: Earlier today we mentioned several reports saying that the Nets' main focus right now is to re-sign Brook Lopez and focus on what they can control. However, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, Brooklyn's upper management is instead still going hard after Dwight Howardwith a package centered around three first round draft picks.

The Nets have their own first round picks to offer in alternate years, but the other pick would likely come from a third team. In the rumored deal, Brook Lopez would join the three first round picks in Orlando, and Kris Humphries would be included in a sign-and-trade situation with that same third team. 

Along with draft picks, the Magic are interested in jump starting their post-Howard era by unloading some of their less team friendly contracts. Whichever team makes a move for Howard's services would have to be willing to take on players such Jason Richardson and Hedo Turkoglu. 

The Rockets are still in the hunt for Howard, and have a recently acquired lottery pick from Toronto, but if Houston is unable to land him it seems unlikely they'd arise as the third team willing to help Brooklyn build an appropriate package. 

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