Orlando Magic general manager Otis Smith will not rule out trading Dwight Howard if the All-NBA center won't commit to a contract extension, reports Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel.

Smith talked to the media after the NBA announced that team executives could begin talking to players and agents in anticipation of the start of free agency on December 9. Howard can't become a free agent until July 2012, but rumors have swirled after the center made comments about his uncertainty on whether he'll commit to Orlando. The Magic, no doubt, have a maximum-value extension available whenever he wants to sign it.

Smith didn't exactly say he plans to put Howard on the market, and said that he wants to take to the star about the issue instead of reading the media tea leaves. But he was candid in saying that all options would remain open.

"I think you have to look at everything," Smith told the Orlando Sentinel when he was asked if he'd consider trading Howard. "I don't think you can take anything out of consideration."

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