As rumors of center Dwight Howard strongly considering a departure from the Los Angeles Lakers, pressure continues to mount for head coach Mike D'Antoni as he's become the main reason that Howard won't re-sign.
D'Antoni was hired five games into the season last year after Mike Brown didn't win a preseason game and started the season 1-4.
However, according to ESPNLA.com's Dave McMeniman D'Antoni will be around for the long term:
Howard has voiced his disapproval of D'Antoni's system earlier this week and there's been reported times of how the two have clashed several times through the media about D'Antoni's misuse of Howard in his system.
Previous rumors suggested that Howard will either opt for the Dallas Mavericks or Houston Rockets due to the pieces they currently already have on their roster.
The Mavericks have recently formulated a plan to rid themselves of their No. 13 pick in this year's NBA Draft with the hopes of luring Howard from the Lakers.
The best case scenario for the Mavericks is that they'll land Howard for next season and have him playing alongside Dirk Nowitzki, Vince Carter and Shawn Marion as the team's core for the season. They would have only the $2.5-million exception plus veteran-minimum contracts left with which to build the rest of the roster, although they do plan on making a strong run at retaining Brandan Wright.
As for the Rockets, they plan to offer a sign-and-trade to the Lakers which will ship Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin to Los Angeles in exchange for Howard.
With either team Howard is sure to be the recipient of plenty of benefits, being that either Texas team at this point would save him a substantial amount of cash by paying no state income tax, which early estimates are suggesting could reach $10 million over four years.
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