Dwight Howard didn't say much about the Nets — certainly nothing that would explain why he reportedly has asked the Orlando Magic to trade him, with the Nets being his No. 1 preferred destination.

"We’re not talking about the Nets right now," Howard said. "We’re talking about the Magic. That’s the team I play for. There’s no need to talk about any other team – who’s interested in them or not. I’m not going to get into a discussion about it."

Howard was told how Nets point guard Deron Williams has said the two talk often, and how Williams said he'd like to play with Howard.

"Well, me and Deron have talked for a couple of years," Howard said. "We did play with each other in the Olympics. I talk to a lot of guys – not just Deron, but Jameer (Nelson); Gilbert (Arenas); I talk to Big Baby (Davis) – I talk to a lot of guys. And everyone wants to get together and play basketball. But as of right now, the only thing that matters is this next game, coming out and playing and getting the job done."

According to sources close to the situation, the Magic will not hold out for youth and draft picks in a potential deal for Dwight Howard.

The Magic would instead prefer to acquire several established players who can keep the team competitive.

Owner Rick De Vos, 85, is believed to have little interest in rebuilding in the wake of Howard's departure.

Dan Fegan, Howard's agent, has formal permission to discuss trade possibilities with the Nets, Lakers, and Mavericks.

Courtney Lee points to Orlando's decision to break up the team that went to the 2009 NBA Finals as the starting point in Dwight Howard's discontent that has led to a trade request.

Lee returned to Orlando as a member of the Rockets on Monday. After the Finals, Lee was traded to the Nets in a deal for Vince Carter.

“I’m not surprised (Dwight requested a trade),” said Lee. ”When they broke up the team in 2009, you could just see the frustration in Dwight’s face. We talked about it a couple of times and you could tell he was upset about it.

”Most franchise players are involved in the decision-making,” Lee added, “and Dwight’s  feeling like he’s not involved.  If you’re going to build around a player, you should communicate with that player and see who he’d like around him.”

The Lakers defeated the Magic in five games, but Lee missed a layup in Game 2 that would evened the series at one.

“It’s not like we got slaughtered in the Finals,” Lee said. “You’d have thought a team that went to the Finals would have stayed together. We got that far in 2009 and the next season we would have had another year’s worth of experience and playing together.”

David Stern was in Oklahoma City on Sunday before the Thunder hosted the Magic on NBA Opening Day.

Stern was asked how he wants to see Dwight Howard's situation with Orlando play out.

"That's the beauty of the soap opera of basketball," Stern said on Sunday in Oklahoma City. "As in life, it'll play out the way it plays out, and we'll all be observers of it. I just don't know.

"But, to me, I am of the view that when somebody has put in his years so to speak and he has earned his free agency he's free to decide where he'll sign, and he's not under a compunction under our system to re-sign with a team if he doesn't want to. But how it plays out? We'll all wait and see."

The ripple effects of Derrick Rose and Dwight Howard both being part of the Adidas endorsement family is that the shoe company wouldn't want the two players on the same team.

As one high-ranking sneaker executive says, “Adidas simply cannot have its two signature players on the same team in the same market. … Derrick is the face of that market, owns that market, and Adidas can’t possibly have maximum bang for its buck with Dwight there.

“It serves Adidas no purpose. They need them as rivals in competing markets.”

Howard has an Adidas renewal on deck in the next year, and Los Angeles and Brooklyn guarantee him maximum money.

Jim Buss, who holds the title of Lakers VP of Player Personnel, addressed a report suggesting the Magic were willing to trade Dwight Howard for Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol.

"Where does this stuff come from?" Buss said. "You'd have to be kind of silly to give up two All-Stars like that for Howard. Zero truth to it. We have never been asked for Andrew and Pau and we've never offered them. I think they know we'd either say no or they would sound crazy for asking."

Buss denied being unwilling to part with Bynum.

"Let's just say this," he says. "You have to give up something to get something. And I'm willing to give up something to get something.

"We've done everything within the rules that we could to explore this situation until we were just spinning our wheels," he says. "The player is still in control of his own destiny; he can block a trade just by saying I'm not going to sign a new deal and stay where he is.

"I personally believe now that we have the team that we will be playing with all season long."

The Hornets traded small forward Quincy Pondexter to the Grizzlies on Saturday in exchange for guard Greivis Vasquez.

Vasquez is a second-year player who averaged 4.5 points and 4.5 assists last season as a rookie with the Grizzlies.

Pondexter was going to be in a battle for minutes with newly acquired Al-Farouq Aminu at the backup small forward spot behind starter Trevor Ariza.

The Grizzlies are preparing an offer sheet for Charlotte Bobcats restricted free agent Dante Cunningham, and team officials have held trade discussions with the Philadelphia 76ers as a response to forward Darrell Arthur’s season-ending Achilles injury.

Magnetic resonance imaging performed Monday on Arthur confirmed that he has a torn right Achilles and will miss the entire 2011-12 season. Memphis, shorthanded up front before Arthur’s injury, is in the market for two frontcourt players.

Cunningham is viewed as a close replacement for Arthur, and the Griz also have 76ers versatile big man Marresse Speights on their radar, according to sources with knowledge of the Grizzlies’ thinking.

Thunder Executive General Manager Sam Presti announced today that the team has acquired a 2013 2nd round draft pick from the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for center Byron Mullens and cash considerations.

"While we believe that Byron will be a productive player in this league, it became apparent that in the near future it would be difficult for him to continue his development and have the opportunity to make a significant impact on our club because of the current make-up of our roster,” Presti said. “This trade allows us the opportunity to create both future financial and roster flexibility while providing us with an additional draft pick in 2013."

The Indiana Pacers have agreed to send shooting guard Brandon Rush to Golden State in exchange for forward Lou Amundson.

The trade, which is expected to be finalized on Monday, would give the Warriors some badly-needed veteran depth behind guards Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry while giving the Pacers the kind of hardworking forward they were looking for.

The Pacers recently signed two-time All-Star David West as well as second-year bruiser Jeff Pendergraph to play with incumbent forward Tyler Hansbrough.