18.05.12

Rejoice, NBA fans, because basketball is back — or at least it will be come Christmas Day.

The league's owners and players have finally put aside their differences and come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement, and the future looks bright for the NBA (at least until 2018 or 2022, when we can do this all over again).

But what does the new labor agreement mean in the short term, and more specifically, what does it mean for an Orlando Magic franchise that is seemingly always in flux and one that could be without a big-time superstar come next summer?

Well, for starters, it means that Magic fans haven't seen center Dwight Howard in a Magic jersey for the last time.

It may sound petty to some, but had the lockout canceled the entire season, there would have been a very real possibility that Howard's next game could have been as a member of the Lakers, Knicks or some other big-market team while the Magic and their fans were left holding the bag.

The new labor agreement certainly still doesn't guarantee that Howard won't bolt for the bright lights of a bigger city come July, but at the very least it means that Magic fans have the next six months or so to show Howard how badly they want him to stay.

And more importantly, for the organization, it's six months to show Howard that he can win — and win now — in Orlando.

Unfortunately for the Magic, one casualty of the labor talks was the proposed "Carmelo Anthony Rule," which would have eliminated the type of extend-and-trade deal that Howard is likely to use as leverage against Orlando in contract talks.

But 'Melo rule or no 'Melo rule, the 25-year-old Howard still doesn't want to sit around waiting for things to get better in Orlando.

So when his contract is up at season's end, he's going to go to the team that will get him a ring before he reaches the peak of his career — and Orlando wants to do everything it can to make sure they're that team.

And while a deep playoff run may not be enough to lure Howard to stay, it would certainly leave a better taste in Howard's mouth than the embarrassing first-round exit to the Hawks that Orlando suffered in April.

Of course, to help Howard win — and convince him that Orlando is where he wants to be — the Magic will need to put the right pieces around him to make a title run. Unfortunately, Orlando, which had the second-highest payroll in basketball last year, is not exactly in a position to spend lavishly to make that happen.

The new CBA won't allow the Magic to go out and buy a title the way they'd surely like to, but one provision may afford them a little more flexibility than they had before this whole mess started.

It's being reported that there is an amnesty clause in the new labor deal, and if those reports are true, the Magic will be able to shed one of their two albatross contracts — Gilbert Arenas or Hedo Turkoglu.

Source: FS Florida