Dwight Howard is officially a Los Angeles Laker and after months of trade rumors, the Dwightmare is over. The Nets were as heavily involved in the saga as any team not named the Orlando Magic and while they may not have ended up with Howard in the end, it wasn't for a lack of effort.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the Nets final offer was as follows:
Final Nets offer Orlando rejected in July: Lopez, Humphries (1 year, $9.6M), Brooks, 4 unprotected No. 1's for Howard, JRich, Duhon, Clark.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) August 10, 2012
Based on what Orlando received in the four-team trade, it's hard to argue the Nets didn't have the best offer. Orlando unloaded the same four players they would have in the deal with the Nets, but also had to take on Al Harrington's salary. Instead of Brook Lopez, Kris Humphries and MarShon Brooks, they receive Arron Afflalo, Moe Harkless and Nikola Vucevic.
Maybe the biggest key to the deal was the first round picks. The Nets offered four, all unprotected, but the Magic ended up with three protected first round picks instead.
The Nets will now move on without Howard and only time will tell if the Magic made the right move.
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