Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

The Los Angeles Lakers are a train wreck and everyone is searching for answers. The most recent preposterous solution has been for the Lakers to trade Dwight Howard in exchange for players who would be more willing to play with Kobe Bryant.

First of all, this is a dumb idea, unless you can pair Kobe with another top-10 player. Seeing how this season is going (Howard averaging lower in most categories, Lakers struggling defensively), the Lakers are not going to get anyone they deem worthy of trading for Howard. They gave up their All-Star center Andrew Bynum for Howard.

Secondly, to even entertain this idea would only serve to hurt Howard’s ability to start improving. He’s one of the more mentally fragile athletes I’ve ever seen, and they need to be feeding him stuff to raise his confidence, not send it to the depths.

Despite all these rumors swirling about three-team trade involving the Brooklyn Nets, or the countless other teams interested in the All-Star, Howard doesn’t expect to be traded anytime soon.

“I plan on being here for the remainder of the season. My focus and [the] team’s focus is to do what we can do to get into the playoffs.”

Well that can be his plan, but if the Lakers’ history tells us anything, they aren’t afraid of at least entertaining the idea. They traded Shaquille O’Neal when he and Bryant butted heads, and reports from before their loss to the Memphis Grizzlies indicate Bryant went after Howard, asking him to straight up tell him if he has a problem playing with Bryant. Howard apparently did not respond to the question, which is basically a yes in my book.

Be monitoring this situation closely. No matter what Howard says publicly, the Lakers will definitely be answering calls about him. Whether they get the right offer is a different story.

Jeff Shull is an NFL writer for RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.