Reports circulated a few weeks ago that veteran guard Jason Richardson would most likely not be dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers in a potential trade involving Dwight Howard. The reasoning behind Richardson not going to L.A. was his large contract and rumored rift with former teammate Steve Nash.
With talks of a Howard trade to the Lakers beginning to heat up once more, Richardson might be involved in a scenario that will land him with the Lakers after all.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports was the first to report this with his tweet:
"Orlando's Jason Richardson has been significant name in 4-way talks too, sources tell Y! There's a scenario where he goes with Howard to LA."
Over the last few months the Magic front office has made it clear that they intended to shed some salary with Richardson and/or Hedo Turkoglu being added in a Howard trade. But the addition of both their contracts has been since what has slowed negotiations down.
Richardson has three years left on his contract with a player option in his third year. He is set to make $5.7 million next season, $6.2 million in 2013-14 and $6.6 million the year after.
The Lakers are set to be facing a huge luxury tax.
GM Mitch Kupchak will presumably want to avoid taking on any extra salary even if Gasol's $39 million over the next two years is off the books.
With a new Howard proposal involving the Orlando Magic sending Howard to the Lakers in a four-team deal with the Philadelphia 76ers and Denver Nuggets, it's safe to say the current proposal may change many times before a deal gets done.
