This weekend  Houston, Texas hosts the 2013 NBA All- Star game and the stars will be out. From Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant etc, amongst those names will be Brooklyn Nets Center Brook Lopez. After Boston Celtics guard Rajon Rondo was ruled out due to injury the league replaced him with the 4 year pro out of Stanford. Last season Lopez’ name had been in several trade rumors/scenarios for Dwight Howard. Plagued by injuries all of last season Lopez only managed to suit out for five games. Before the injury Brook Lopez was averaging (19.2) points per game and shot 50% from the field. This season has been much of the same, Lopez averaging a team leading (19.0) points per game. Also has stepped up his rebounding slightly (7.4) rebounds per game. The biggest adjustment in Brook’s game has been defensively; becoming more active and aggressive thanks to Reggie Evans. On the season he is 6th in the NBA in blocked shots at a fascinating (2.2) blocks per game. Lopez has put the BROOK in BROOK-lyn so far this season, many believe he should have been selected initially. It was voiced by Nets guard Deron Williams as well as Owner Billy King, that Lopez has been the most consistent. At  All-Star break the Brooklyn Nets are 2nd in the Atlantic Division and 4th in the Eastern Conference. A large part of the teams success this year has been defensively and it starts with Brook Lopez, and the Brooklyn Nets front court. After four seasons he is finally getting the recognition he  deserves, and hopefully Lopez can keep up  this level of play. The All- Star game is Sunday night at the Toyota Center in Houston tip off is at 8pm EST. The Brooklyn Nets continue play on February 19th at home against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Rajon Rondo

In the latest major trade rumor of the season, ESPN reports that the Los Angeles Lakers may be interested in trading Dwight Howard for Rajon Rondo of the Boston Celtics. Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak denied the rumor saying that he has not talked to the Celtics “in weeks” and Kupchak denies having any interest in trading Howard anywhere.

This trade rumor is most definitely fabricated and I will be shocked if Howard ends up in Boston. The main reason for that is that I don’t know how the Celtics would possibly be able to re-sign him to a max contract. Even without Rondo, the Celtics already have a payroll of about $58 million next season. If a Howard max contract is thrown in, that puts the Celtics at close to $78 million. That will put Boston deep into the luxury tax penalties that they probably will not want to pay. Another reason why this trade would never happen is that I doubt that two rivals like the Celtics and Lakers would make a trade this important with each other. These two teams expect to make the finals every year and they don’t want to risk giving the other team a boost.

One reason why the Lakers would never do this is because they would pretty much be throwing away their season by making this move. Rajon Rondo clearly will not come back and play this year, so by making this trade, they are trading a 75% Dwight Howard for absolutely nothing in the short term. A team with championship aspirations like L.A. would not do that.

Even though this trade is not going to happen, it is still interesting that Dwight Howard’s name is continuing to be thrown into trade rumors even though he believes he will be staying with the Lakers for the rest of the season.

Obviously, Nets fans are wondering what the chances are that Dwight will come to Brooklyn. Chances are very small that Howard would come over in a mid-season trade unless the Nets added Brook Lopez, which they would be foolish to do. There is still a small chance that Brooklyn could try to acquire Dwight in free agency. However, in order to do that, they would need to trade at least one of their major contracts to make room to pay Howard.

Reports are still saying that Brooklyn is Howard’s #1 destination in the offseason. The question is whether or not the Nets want him there.