Idea: Dwight Howard to the Thunder?

[JSD]

Harden, Ibaka, Perkins and a 1st for Howard?  If I were the Thunder, I'd do that deal.  Yes you lose your starting SG and PF, but you gain the most physically gifted center in the NBA right now and a force on defense.

I agree that OKC should love this.  If  1 man can do the work of 2, how can that be anything but great?  Imagine losing Paul Pierce -- to replace him, the C's would have to get a 2/3 who can shoot short range, shoot long range, pass well, defend well, handle the ball well (for a 3), rebound exceptionally well and be a team leader.  They'd need to find 3 guys to adequately replace Pierce.   Howard replaces Perk AND Ibaka.  OKC then has the easier task of finding a role-playing 4.     Harden is unique enough talent to make it hard to replace, but he does make the deal possibly palatable for Orlando. In the short-term, the Magic go from 3-5 seed to, well, worse.   OKC then works to fill in the pieces around a great Big 3 (DH, KD and RW).  OKC a force for a generation.   The question is -- are they a force for a generation without Howard?  Well, probably. 

But if you're Orlando get you do better than knabbing Harden, 2 legit bigs and cap relief? I don't see it.

[TheFlex]

I tried it on ESPN trade machine and OKC was taking in five more million than it could right now, but in the offseason I'm pretty certain it would work, especially with the 1.3 million trade exception they have. They wouldn't really be able to do anything this offseason but maybe they can convince Dwight to take a LBJ-esque paycut and it'll be easier paying Dwight 15-20 million than it will paying Ibaka, Harden and Perkins 35-40 mil combined.