Report: Cavaliers pull out of Dwight Howard deal, Magic exploring other options

The Dwight Howard trade saga goes on. Just one day after a deal taking the six-time NBA All-Star to the Brooklyn Nets seemed to be imminent, Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reports via Twitter that the Cavaliers have pulled out of the three-team deal.

https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/status/222751757602783232

https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/status/222752419359113216

The proposed deal between the Magic, Nets, and Cavaliers making the rounds yesterday included Nets power forward Kris Humphries, who would have been sent to Cleveland but wasn't likely to accept the one-year deal the Cavs would offer him. This would seem to support an ESPN report from earlier in the day indicating that the Magic have begun to lose hope in completing a deal with the Nets and have starting listening intently to offers from other teams in the league.

However, not all teams are eager to take part in a deal.

Being the cog in creating another super team in Brooklyn, with Deron Williams and Joe Johnson already in the mix, is not palatable to some teams concerned about competitive balance.

"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 said. "You have to realize part of long-term planning is making sure you don't help create teams you can't beat."