Take this with a grain of salt, but sheridanhoops.com is reporting that the Magic have made the decision to move forward with attempts to trade Dwight Howard. According to Sheridan, during meetings between Alex Martins and Rich DeVos last week, it was decided that they would not only get rid of Otis Smith and Stan Van Gundy, but that they would also trade Dwight. Sheridan, citing a "plugged-in league source" says that after the results of the lottery, the Magic will reach out to teams and fish for potential offers.

http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2012/05/24/exclusive-magic-are-ready-to-trade-howardf-howard/

More thoughts after the jump:

Now I think we all have doubts about the credibility of Mr. Sheridan. I personally suspect him of being a massive Knicks homer and someone who will write misleading headlines to get views for his site. However, if what he is reporting is even somewhat true, it's obviously big news for the Nets. Many, even outside of Sheridan, agree that after all this drama, the Magic are going to ask Dwight what he thinks and if he is non-committal, move towards dealing him.

What this means is that the lottery is now of PARAMOUNT importance for our Nets. If we obtain a top three pick, we could easily form a package worthy of Dwight Howard, especially if he is reluctant to sign with other teams as has been previously reported. If we don't get a top-three pick, it'll be harder but still doable to get Howard.

So, I hope I'm not getting everyone's hopes up (as has happened countless times on this site), but it looks like Superman might finally be headed to the Metropolis after all. And love him or hate him, the man is a great basketball player and would allow us to lock up Deron and become annual contenders, something I think we all miss.