The Cavaliers can help facilitate the trade by taking on Kris Humphries in a sign-and-trade as well as possibly MarShon Brooks. The Magic would receive Brook Lopez along with three first round draft picks.

The deal for Orlando does not seem much better than the ones rumored between them and the Nets earlier that the Magic were not interested in. However, it is rumored that this deal could be done by the end of the day today.

Brooklyn would suffer harsh luxury tax penalties over the next four seasons if they do get Howard. The penalties could amount to over $100 million in four years but they still seem determined to get Howard.

“You can talk about the new (luxury) tax all you want, but if the Lakers get Nash and the Nets get Howard, then what did the new CBA accomplish?” one GM told ESPN. “You have to realize part of long-term planning is making sure you don’t help create teams you can’t beat.”

The Nets are not limiting themselves to Cleveland as the third wheel in a Howard trade and are shopping Humphries around the rest of the league as well.

The Magic agreed to another trade yesterday sending last year’s Most Improved Player, Ryan Anderson, to New Orleans in a sign-and-trade for Gustavo Ayon. Anderson will receive a 4-year, $36 million deal.

Anderson benefited greatly from playing alongside Howard as a spot-up four getting a ton of open looks from three. We will see if he can still be effective in a different landscape without Howard.

The Hornets are happy to get a good rebounder and shooter to put alongside No. 1 overall pick Anthony Davis for next season.

The Chicago Bulls also made moves yesterday bringing back Kirk Hinrich to a 2-year, $6 million deal. The Bulls now have to decide if they will match Houston’s 3-year, $25 million offer sheet for Omer Asik.

Derrick Rose may not be recovered from his torn ACL until well after next season has started for Chicago. The Bulls are likely parting ways with C.J. Watson so signing Hinrich here is a big move for them.

July 11 is the first day that free agents can officially sign. Teams will have three days to match offer sheets their restricted free agents signed elsewhere.

Jeremy Lin, Eric Gordon and Roy Hibbert are three of the biggest named restricted free agents that signed offer sheets with other teams. All three are expected to have those offers matched by their former teams.

Anderson received 33 first place votes while Ersan Ilyasova of Milwaukee was second with 21 first place votes.

Anderson finishes the year with a PER of 21.2. Last year his PER was 19.0. He didn’t have a tremendous increase in terms of efficiency but his overall numbers were better.

The award could have gone to any number of players as usually is the case with this one.

Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks seemed like the certain winner before getting injured and eventually only playing in 35 games this season.

Nikola Pekovic of the Minnesota Timberwolves also got injured after a huge improvement this season that may have had more to do with playing with Ricky Rubio.

At the beginning of this season Anderson was really stepping up despite all of the drama surrounding Dwight Howard and he was even making a case as a potential All-Star.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

Thunder (6-game winning streak)
106.2 Offensive Efficiency (2nd)
99.0 Defensive Efficiency (13th)
96.1 Pace (5th)
56.8 True Shooting % (2nd)
51.6 Rebound Rate (5th)

Magic (1-game winning streak)
101.5 Offensive Efficiency (12th)
98.5 Defensive Efficiency (12th)
91.4 Pace (29th)
53.1 True Shooting % (8th)
50.7 Rebound Rate (12th)

The Oklahoma City Thunder passed a tough test last night in Philadelphia and now send their All-Stars and rest of team back to Orlando tonight to deal with Dwight Howard’s Magic.

The Thunder are on a six-game winning streak dating back to before the All-Star Break and are really beginning to look like the team to beat in the Western Conference.

Orlando has had a weird season with all of the Howard leaving talk and have still been successful overall. That just goes to show the value of Dwight Howard.

Howard is giving the Magic 20-15 basically but noticeably isn’t giving 100 percent effort level and it’s not totally his fault. The Magic have traditionally been one of the most efficient defenses in the league behind Howard however find themselves closer to the middle of the pack this season.

Howard’s greatest strength of course is deterring penetration and the Thunder rely mostly on jump shots and the fast break to produce the best on offense.

Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE

Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook will need to be on point with their jumpers tonight to give Oklahoma City the best chance to win. Westbrook was off last night but played great defense and crashed the glass on offense to help the Thunder win.

Durant scored 30 points on Christmas Day the first time these teams played this season while Westbrook struggled with only 14 and 6-of-17 shooting.

James Harden had 19 in that game and got to the line 12 times as the Thunder bench had a big advantage while in the game versus Orlando that night.

Howard went for only 11 points in the game but Ryan Anderson was hot with six three-pointers and a 25-10 stat line.

Defending the three-point line is always an obvious point of emphasis when playing the Magic and the Thunder are pretty good at doing it.

As long as Oklahoma City limits offensive rebounds and gets out on the fast break then they should have the upper hand tonight. It would be the seventh straight win for Oklahoma City and slipping up in Orlando on a back-to-back might be a likely setback for this team.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

It’s All-Star Saturday Night tonight and that means it’s time for the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest, Foot Locker Three-Point Contest and Taco Bell Skills Challenge.

Last year the Thunder had one player participating in each with Serge Ibaka in the dunk contest, Kevin Durant in the three-point shootout and Russell Westbrook in the skills challenge. This year Durant and Westbrook will be back but not Ibaka.

Durant is only in the three-point contest because he is replacing Joe Johnson who originally was selected over him. Last year Durant did not fare well finishing last with only seven points. Durant should be more motivated tonight and his shooting stroke is made for the competition.

James Jones is the defending champ and will be Durant’s toughest competition. Ryan Anderson is the hometown favorite in Orlando. Anthony Morrow is the guy who can get hotter than anyone else and had a 40-point game earlier this season in which he hit eight threes.

The dunk contest will not consist of any stars this year which has been a common trend in recent history. Aside from Dwight Howard and Blake Griffin there haven’t been any big named players taking part in the contest.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

The dunk contest has definitely lost its’ luster but should be interesting nonetheless. There will be only one round this year with the winner being determined entirely by the fans’ vote.

Derrick Williams, Chase Budinger, Paul George and Jeremy Evans will compete. Evans is replacing the original selection of Iman Shumpert. Each contestant will hopefully bring something unique to the competition.

Williams is known for his gorilla slams and his dunks are always clean and look nice when they go down. Budinger could be the creative one this year and has an advantage in being a sneaky, good jumper. George has some Dominque Wilkins dunks in his arsenal and already displayed one in a game earlier this year. Evans is the guy no one really knows about but apparently jumps out of the gym more so than anyone else in the contest.

With there being no one who should steal the popular vote I feel Evans might be the favorite despite being the alternate selection. The anecdotes about his hops from practices and the few minutes he’s seen in games seem to trump anything any of the other players are bringing to the floor.

It’s just always so hard not to imagine what the dunk contest could be if LeBron James, Dwyane Wade or Durant were in it. The biggest complaint about the contest now is that we’ve seen every dunk before. That wouldn’t matter if this star power was in it because we’d care more about the players and not the dunks.

All of the competitions will begin tonight at 8:30 P.M. EST on TNT.