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Wojnarowski: Gerald Wallace / Dwight Howard Trade Talks Dead? Update (11:18 A.M.): Adrian...

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Wojnarowski: Gerald Wallace / Dwight Howard Trade Talks Dead? Update (11:18 A.M.): Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports that "Orlando has ended trade talks for Dwight Howard... Magic decided to take Dwight Howard off market, ending talks with Nets and the rest of his NBA suitors for now." Chad Ford of ESPN.com reports: "Nets offered everything they could for Howard: Brook Lopez + FIVE 1st Rd picks. Theirs in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018 + Rockets 2012 pick." The news comes roughly one hour before the media availability portion of Portland Trail Blazers training camp practice is set to open on Wednesday. Sam Amick of SI.com confirms the report (note this has been updated after the trade talks reportedly died. ------------------------ The deal would have sent Howard, small forward Hedo Turkoglu and point guard Chris Duhon to the Nets; Blazers small forward Gerald Wallace, Nets centers Brook Lopez and Johan Petro, and possibly a first-round draft pick to the Magic; and a whopping four first-round draft picks to the Blazers. ------------------------ Stein: Blazers To Deal F Gerald Wallace For Picks? Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports that the Portland Trail Blazers are joining multi-team trade talks to act as a potential facilitator to send Orlando Magic All-Star center Dwight Howard to the New Jersey Nets... ------------------------ "Sources told ESPN.com that the most active proposal discussed by the teams would send Portland Trail Blazers swingman Gerald Wallace to the Magic along with Nets center Brook Lopez as two of the main pieces Orlando would receive in exchange for Howard. Other players would have to be added to the deal to make the salary-cap math work, but sources said Portland would receive multiple first-round picks as part of the exchange for surrendering Wallace and facilitating the trade. Yet it remains to be seen if the Brooklyn-bound Nets can convince the Magic to indeed go through with trading Howard before the season starts." ------------------------ Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports... ------------------------ Portland could extract as many as 3 draft picks for Gerald Wallace in possible multi-team Nets deal for Dwight Howard, league sources say. Privately, Portland believes Gerald Wallace has evolved into Blazer "heart and soul" and are hesitant to move him for picks and cap space. ------------------------ Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reports that the Magic are content to continue their slow play. ------------------------ A league source told CBSSports.com that the Magic are "not in a rush to do anything," and that the team's first priority is to keep Howard. The scenario as currently constructed with Wallace joining Lopez in Orlando as the primary pieces is not enough to persuade the organization to move forward with the deal quickly, the person said. "If people think things are imminent, then they're being led down the wrong path," the person said. ------------------------ Moving Wallace's $9.5 million salary in an unbalanced trade could produce a trade exception large enough to give Portland another way to acquire unrestricted free agent guard Jamal Crawford for $5 million per year, as was a reported possibility last night, or potentially even more. Depending on the size of the renegotiated 1-year deal for center Greg Oden, Storyteller notes, it's possible that a Wallace salary dump could get the Blazers below the luxury tax line without needing to use the amnesty clause on Brandon Roy. In that case, they would receive a restored full Mid-Level Exception worth up to $4 years and up to $5 million per year plus raises to use on a free agent. He reports that an offer of $6.5 million or less to Oden plus the full clearance of Wallace's contract and waiving big man Earl Barron's non-guaranteed deal would put Portland in that position. The Blazers announced that Oden's new deal was worth less than the $8.8 million qualifying offer but refused to divulge specifics. ed: text being updated regularly, bumped to front page