Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

The Los Angeles Lakers are looking to meet with Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic to work on a trade for the All-Star center, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports.

The Lakers would like to receive a commitment from Howard that he will extend with the team beyond next season if they trade for him. Howard said previously that the only team he would extend with was the Brooklyn Nets.

There have been plenty of rumors involving Howard being traded to the Lakers. Most likely a third team would have to be involved for Orlando to get the best deal back from Howard involving either young prospects or a bunch of future draft picks.

The only team not interested in hearing Howard commit beyond next season with them is the Houston Rockets who are still “all-in” in attempting to acquire Howard. GM Daryl Morey has set up his roster with a slew of young assets and picks to throw Orlando’s way and they currently look like the team with the most to offer the Magic.

Howard sent direct messages on Twitter this week indicating that Orlando has not been totally up front about his health. Howard missed the end of last season and had back surgery and basically said he could barely walk in the direct messages.

There is a chance Howard would not be healthy to play by the start of next season and there is even a rumor out there (although unlikely) that Howard would choose to sit out the entire 2012-13 season if he remained with the Magic.

The team hoping for Howard to stay put until next summer is the Dallas Mavericks. Dallas tried to clear up cap to attract Deron Williams this summer but that did not work out and now they will do the same for Howard next summer.

Meanwhile Dallas looked as if it would end up with a very depleted roster losing Jason Terry and Jason Kidd but a couple of recent signings have salvaged a decent roster for them. Unrestricted free agent O.J. Mayo announced on Twitter that he will be signing with the Mavericks this season. Earlier in the week, Dallas grabbed Chris Kaman, Elton Brand and stole Darren Collison from Indiana.

The 2011 NBA champions are a far different team now and with an aging Dirk Nowitzki will not be back competing for a title any time soon unless they are able to sign a player like Howard.

Dallas beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in conference finals in 2011 and then got swept by them this past season in the first round.

With all of the recent movement around the league and the Western Conference in particular, OKC will still be considered the heavy favorite to make it to the NBA Finals again. Their biggest competition perhaps will be the Lakers since they have acquired Steve Nash, although the Thunder beat L.A. in five games in the second round this past postseason.

The other L.A. team, the Clippers are also up and coming in the West and have made a few nice moves to improve their roster starting with extending Blake Griffin for the next five years. Griffin suffered a knee injury during the Team USA training however and will have surgery Monday.

The Clippers have also signed Jamal Crawford and re-signed Chauncey Billups. They have also reportedly agreed to a 2-year deal with Grant Hill who was also considering the Lakers, Heat and Knicks. The Clippers were missing out on wing players on their roster this past season but adding Hill and Crawford will help them in that department.

The West has certainly gotten stronger from last season and we haven’t even mentioned the San Antonio Spurs who will have the same roster next season.

The Thunder don’t have to make moves to improve though. The experience they gained making it to the NBA Finals was enough.

You can head on over to Beale Street Bears for all of Chuck’s coverage of the memphis Grizzlies.

Also you can download the podcast here.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

The Memphis Grizzlies ended the Oklahoma City Thunder’s six-game winning streak beating them 94-88 in Chesapeake Energy Arena.

The Thunder trailed 87-78 with 3:15 left in the game before going on an 8-0 lead to cut the deficit to just one point. Russell Westbrook then gambled on the next possession trying to steal the ball from Marc Gasol from behind. Gasol held on and found O.J. Mayo for an open three-pointer which he made as the shot clock expired and Memphis led 90-86 with 17 seconds left.

The Thunder showcased some of their old problems that seemed no longer issues these past few weeks. Oklahoma Coty turned the ball over 18 times in the game and gave up 14 offensive rebounds to the Grizzlies.

Westbrook also came back to real life scoring only 19 points while going 5-for-16 from the field. Kevin Durant wasn’t much better scoring 21 points and shooting 8-for-20 in the game. The two also combined to turn the ball over eight times.

James Harden did not turn the ball over once and scored 14 points to go along with five assists and five rebounds for the Thunder. This was a game when the Thunder might have needed more from Harden with Westbrook and Durant struggling but the Memphis defense was a tough one tonight.

The Grizzlies shot just 39.1 percent from the field but attempted 14 more field goals than the Thunder in the game.

Mayo was the killer for Memphis coming off the bench for 22 points including the big three. Tony Allen may have made the biggest impact though through his defense which is as good as anyone’s in the NBA and scoring 15 points and grabbing eight rebounds in 41 minutes. The Grizzlies were plus-12 with Allen on the floor.

Oklahoma City wasn’t going to win every game the rest of this season although they did appear unbeatable during the past week. The Thunder will be off tomorrow before squaring off in Miami Wednesday night.