Yahoo!’s Adrian Wojnarowski Tweeted yesterday that a four-way blockbuster trade that would send Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers was imminent, and it appears that it’s done. According to Woj, as of this morning the deal is in place and just needs NBA approval, which the teams will most likely receive during a conference call this afternoon. As the smoke clears and the dust settles, this is how the trade plays out:

Lakers get: Dwight Howard, Earl Clark, and Chris Duhon

Philadelphia 76ers get: Andrew Bynum and Jason Richardson

Denver Nuggets get: Andre Iguodala

Orlando Magic get: Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Nikola Vucevic, Moe Harkless, 3 first round picks, and 1 second round pick.

(Some people with “sources” say that other players are involved, and it is actually 4 first rounders that suck and maybe 2 second rounders, but who knows yet? Who cares? Is anyone even paying attention? Hello, Mrs. Pommelhorse?)

MOST SHOCKING UPDATE EVER: The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that the deal is not done and there may be complications. I do not believe this because the Sentinel is never right.

Of course that has led to a chorus of “How could Orlando do that?” and “Orlando got screwed” and “Orlando took the worst offer out there” and that was expected. Short of a LeBron James for Howard straight-up swap, there was no deal that Orlando would receive that wouldn’t be met with cries of outrage from both fans and the media. That’s just how the NBA works these days.

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"Dude, that was awesome! Also, we still want to trade you."

It’s really strange looking at last night’s NBA Playoffs scores and seeing that the Chicago Bulls have been eliminated. The Bulls were supposed to meet the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals, and not another team in the East stood a chance against either of them. It was going to be LeBron James/Dwyane Wade/Chris Bosh vs. Derrick Rose/Joakim Noah/Luol Deng in the battle of a team that depends on three guys and a team.

But then that team was apparently in a train crash, because Rose went down with a torn ACL and Noah sprained his ankle and everything went to hell. Perhaps 76ers coach Doug Collins put it best after his team pulled off the 4-2 series victory with a 79-78 win over the East’s top seed last night.

“I don’t know how we won this game.”

The 76ers won the game because Andre Iguodala, the guard they’ve been trying to trade for the past year or so, hit the turbo boosters with a rebound on Omer Asik’s second missed free throw with 7 seconds left and went coast-to-coast to miss a layup but make two free throws to win the game. And those two free throws might guarantee that a team will come calling for a veteran like Iguodala, despite the fact that he’s owed more than $30 million over the next two seasons.

In case you missed it, you can watch the play that made millions of Bulls fans wonder, “How the f*ck did this happen?” after the jump.

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Sometimes sports news has nothing to do with Playboy parties and gossipy rumors or Tebowing or who’s psychic told them to divorce who — sometimes sports news is “this guy is awesome at sports”. Take, for example, Philadelphia 76er Andre Iguodala’s amazing circus shot from Monday night’s game against the Lakers.

Seriously, look at this:

I left the basket in the upper righthand corner so you could see what he’s working with. This is more or less the best shot I ever made by complete accident f**king up a game of Horse, and I applaud him for it.

Now let’s see him do it again!

[h/t My Sports Rumors]

As I’ve pointed out a few dozen times since July 1, whoever is running the public relations strategy for the NBA players union is doing a terrible job. But I’m also willing to bet that nobody is really in charge of the spin machine, as we’ve seen both the players and owners struggle to grasp reality during this entire lockout.

However, it’s worth pointing out that the players, despite coming off as greedy and arrogant at times (*cough, Dwyane Wade claiming he deserves $50 million per season, cough*), really do have their acts together for the most part. Sure, some of them are acting like they don’t give a crap about whether or not there is a season, but some of them are using their free time for the betterment of society and they’re not necessarily doing it so they can pose for the cameras.

Us basketball fans may be pissed, annoyed, frustrated, and flat out angry, but we’re also ignorant to the better efforts because a couple guys giving out Playstations to terminally ill kids doesn’t make a front page look as sexy as Wade telling off the league’s commish. Fortunately, I was doing some fall hard drive cleaning and came across a slew of images that proves that even the most robotic, soulless eventual billionaires like LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony have big hearts. They just don’t have good marketing teams.

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"Red... like that Heat jersey I won't wear for another year."

If you were a professional NBA player and you made the majority of your income from endorsements or the E! network, but the league that you play in – essentially the reason that you’re even famous – is currently in a strike with the majority of its players scraping together pennies from their last paychecks to make ends meet, would you A) meet with your teammates regularly and offer to help with little things like groceries and rent while the lockout continues, B) step to the forefront of the players union and take a strong stance for the benefit of your peers instead of cowtowing to the owners, or C) say f*ck ‘em all and attend Fashion Week in New York City.

You bet your sweet Burberry-scented ass that you’re going to Fashion Week. Just like the NBA’s biggest stars, who instead of being concerned with the possibility of no season, made sure they were up to par on the latest from the top designers like that one guy, and the lady with one name, and that other dude. Me and fashion go together like Eddy Curry and exercise.

Check out more of LeBron James and the athletes who are more concerned with fashion than job security after the jump.

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