Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

Trade talks have resumed again over Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard. The Magic and Los Angeles Lakers have been trying to come up with a deal that would send Howard to L.A. for a few weeks now.

The latest development now involves a proposed blockbuster trade that would include the Denver Nuggets and Philadelphia 76ers as part of a 4-team trade, according to Yahoo! Sports.

The Lakers would receive Howard and Al Harrington, Orlando would get Pau Gasol and Arron Afflalo, Andre Iguodala would go to the Nuggets and Andrew Bynum to the 76ers.

The biggest thing keeping Orlando from dealing Howard thus far is that they haven’t seen a deal out there worthy yet. Gasol and Afflalo are nice pieces and it is also believed though they would try and flip Gasol somewhere for young players and picks.

The Houston Rockets could possibly be interested in Gasol as they have stockpiled a roster full of young talent and draft picks. Houston was part of the 3-way trade that was vetoed last year that would have sent Chris Paul to the Lakers and Gasol to Houston.

More details will have to come out with this potential deal though because Orlando still definitely wants to give up more than just Howard. They want to start over in a sense, ridding themselves of all their bad contracts. Taking on Gasol and Afflalo doesn’t exactly accomplish that.

Kobe Bryant said earlier this summer that Pau was his guy and wasn’t going anywhere. The Lakers roster already looks very nice for next year with Steve Nash alongside Kobe, Gasol and Bynum. They’d be trading two for one to take on Howard in this deal which is a little bit of a risk.

The other interesting wrinkle in this deal is Iguodala and Bynum’s potential landing spots. You have to think Philadelphia would be all for swapping Iguodala for Bynum and trying to build their team around the young center.

Iguodala would probably seamlessly fit in with Denver and what they’re doing with the top scoring offense in the NBA, possibly making them a little bit more of a dangerous playoff team.

The deal isn’t close to being done though as the teams are just in early talks right now.

From the words of the Nuggets announcers last night: “Add Al Harrington to the list of Kevin Durant posters.”

That’s the kind of night it was for the Denver Nuggets. They just didn’t have the motivation it seemed to come out and match the Thunder’s intensity.

Oklahoma City cruised to a 103-90 win last night never breaking stride along the way.

Durant led the way scoring 24 points. He made all four of his shots at the rim and went 2-for-2 from 16-to-23 feet. Durant’s only blemish was making just 1-of-5 treys.

Russell Westbrook didn’t have his cleanest night with seven turnovers but had nice touch from deep making 2-of-3 threes and 3-of-7 long twos.

Thabo Sefolosha returned to the starting lineup after missing the last 23 games for the Thunder. The Thunder defense returned to their old ways last night too now that Daequan Cook could start coming off the bench again.

Last year, Oklahoma City’s defense was one of the best in the league but they have struggled somewhat in that department this season. It was good to see them show glimpses of their potential on the defensive end last night.

The Thunder may be the best in the NBA at turning good defense into quick-scoring offense. We saw a great example of that last night after a Serge Ibaka block on Harrington quickly turned into a fast break alley-oop from Westbrook to James Harden.

That was Harden’s only bucket at the rim last night as he comfortably lit the Nuggets up from three instead. He made 4-of-6 threes in the game as the Thunder made a season-high 12 threes as a team last night.

Another big component to the return of Sefolosha is the Thunder getting back to their normal rotation. Cook seemed more comfortable coming back off the bench to the tune of making three three-pointers last night.

Reggie Jackson also played well with five points and four assists. There were some rumors just before the trade deadline about the Thunder possibly pursuing D.J. Augustin from the Charlotte Bobcats. The potential deal likely would have included Jackson, who seemed possibly relieved to still be with the Thunder last night and it was reflected in his game.

Tonight we will see the top two teams in the West do battle as the Thunder will host San Antonio. The Spurs made some noise yesterday trading away Richard Jefferson to Golden State for Stephen Jackson.