NBA Trade Rumor Roundup: Carmelo Anthony Wants Out, Dwight Howard Wants To Stay

The NBA trade rumors only have one day left to be relevant considering Thursday is the trade deadline, but the rumor mongerers have been out on the Internet in full force since Tuesday's version of our NBA Trade Rumor Roundup. More superstars are saying more things, random players are being discussed by random teams and the first actual trade has even taken place.

That means Monta Ellis and Andrew Bogut will no longer be eligible to be included in this space, but that's all right because New York Knicks All-Star Carmelo Anthony has decided he wants to join in the fun! 'Melo was apparently disappointed that Fab Melo was the leading "Melo" in the news on Tuesday so he let it leak that he's ready to move out of the bright lights in the Big Apple.

The above link, based off a report in the New York Post, paints a drastically different portrait of the relationship between Anthony and Jeremy Lin when compared to the column posted Wednesday morning on ESPN.com.

When Anthony first returned -- and it still appears to be the case -- Lin would bring the ball upcourt and try to run D'Antoni's system. When Anthony would abandon the offense, Lin would not pass him the ball, which irritated Anthony, sources said. So when Lin tried to talk to Anthony on the court, Anthony would turn his back to the point guard and tune him out. The two never had heated exchanges, though, and the players tried to come to a compromise, agreeing to run D'Antoni's system while also mixing in post-ups for Anthony.

That situation should be interesting to follow for the next 24 hours, but Melo isn't the only All-Star to change his mind regarding the trade deadline. Dwight Howard is of course still in the news, but the Orlando Magic supermanstar has now decided he does not want to be traded. The following comes from CBS Sports' Ken Berger:

After posting 24 points and 25 rebounds in a 104-98 overtime victory over Miami Tuesday night -- Orlando's second victory in three games against the Heat this season -- Howard told reporters he's informed Magic management he wants to finish the season in Orlando. The Magic, Howard said after the game, must now "roll the dice" that he'll opt out and return to Orlando as a free agent.

"I told those guys and I've been telling them for the past two or three weeks now that I'm going to stay and finish the season," Howard said.

That decision isn't exactly his, however -- and it probably makes the Orlando front office a bit weary that their top player wants them to "roll the dice" and possibly get nothing in return for their franchise's centerpiece. For more on the feelings from the front office, be sure to read Tom Ziller's informative piece entitled "Magic Officials 'Disgusted' With Dwight Howard, Whose Toes They Would Probably Lick."

Now that the two big names are out of the way, our readers are probably asking what else is happening around the league. Well here's the answer:

• The Milwaukee Bucks have decided that they're going to keep Brandon Jennings, meaning a rather interesting backcourt will be formed once newly-acquired Monta Ellis gets to town.
• The Chicago Bulls are exploring their options regarding trading for Los Angeles Lakers center Pau Gasol, according to ESPN's Marc Stein.
• There's an interesting three-team trade rumor revolving around random players from the San Antonio Spurs, Minnesota Timberwolves and Utah Jazz that might be worth keeping an eye on for the next day or so.
• The New York Knicks are looking at trying to trade Toney Douglas, to which Seth from Posting and Toasting says "Yeah, uh .... good luck with that."
• Speaking of random point guards, Kirk Hinrich doesn't want to be traded away from the Atlanta Hawks.
• The Boston Celtics probably won't be active at the trade deadline because general manager Danny Ainge is asking for quite a bit. There's also the Rajon Rondo deal, analyzed by Celtics Blog's Jeff Clark here, that's been nixed numerous times.
• The Cleveland Cavaliers might be interested in trading away Ramon Sessions ... and adding Jonny Flynn?
• Our good friends over at Liberty Ballers are looking at the possibility of trading for J.J. Hickson for Andres Nocioni and a second round pick. That Tanner Steidel character is crazy.
• Speaking of hypothetical trades, Ziller wonders over at Sactown Royalty if Dorrell Wright is available while one of the community members looked at one of the roles the Sacramento Kings could be involved in at the trade deadline.

Do you love when basketball teams make moves? Great! Aside from our NBA trade rumors StoryStream, we have you covered with NBA trade deadline previews from around the league.