Dallas Mavericks, Dwight Howard | featured news

Dwight Howard missed a two-handed dunk on his first shot, and the night never got much better for the Los Angeles Lakers. When Howard and Steve Nash took their places alongside Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol under the Hollywood spotlight, the Lakers opened a season of enormous expectations with an equally big dud of a performance. Darren Collison scored 17 points, Brandan Wright added 14, and the Dallas Mavericks spoiled the Lakers debuts of Howard and Steve Nash with a 99-91 victory over Los Angeles on Tuesday night.

The Lakers made a trade Saturday, but it wasn't for Chris Paul or Dwight Howard. Two days after getting rebuffed by the NBA in an apparent deal for Paul, the Lakers sent forward Lamar Odom to Dallas for the Mavericks' first-round pick in the 2012 amateur draft.

Magic spokesman Joel Glass says the team has granted New Jersey, Dallas and the L.A. Lakers permission to talk to Dwight Howard's agent Dan Fegan to discuss possible trades....