Dwight Howard is rewarded for insubordination in trade to Lakers

When a child cries in the NBA, he gets to spank his parents. This is one lesson of the Dwight Howard saga, which is finally over, or at least on hiatus, until Howard says he won't re-sign unless his team plays three home games a year on Mars, forcing the franchise to buy Mars rover Curiosity to make it happen.

In the meantime, Howard is a Laker, and how rich is that? He nuked his old franchise in Orlando, establishing himself as the best all-around franchise-destroying star in the NBA. He complained like Carmelo, got his coach fired like Jason Kidd, and ditched adoring fans like LeBron -- and, like all the all-time greats, he brought something new to the game: world-class waffling, which hurt Orlando even more.

Predictably, here is Howard's punishment: He goes to a better team (though not the one he wanted), in a bigger market, and he still gets to sign a full maximum-salary deal with the Lakers next summer.

I don't suppose this matters to anybody, but the owners of the Magic paid Dwight Howard more than $30 million for the past two seasons. How cruel of them. No wonder he was upset.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/michael_rosenberg/08/10/dwight-howard-lakers-trade/index.html#ixzz23Hl23bME