“Dwight’s gone, and [Magic CEO] Alex Martins is the only person who doesn’t believe that,” a league source with knowledge of Howard’s intentions told Yahoo! Sports.

Howard is privately telling people the acquisition of an All-Star player and more complementary players could sway him to stay, league sources told Y! Sports’ Marc Spears, but that scenario is far-fetched given the limited appeal of Orlando’s trade assets. A proposed three-way trade between the Magic, Golden State Warriors and Milwaukee Bucks, which would send Andrew Bogut to Golden State and Monta Ellis to Orlando won’t happen unless Milwaukee also finds a team to take Stephen Jackson. And the Magic are hesitant about accepting Jackson’s contract, which has one remaining year worth $10 million, unless they’ve been assured Howard will re-sign.

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Martins has improved the franchise’s relationship with Howard, multiple sources told Yahoo! Sports. But as one source talking to Martins and Howard said: “That’s great, but [Dwight’s] still going to leave.”

Said another official, who has been involved in deal talks with Orlando, New Jersey and the agents in the process: “Dwight is going to [expletive] them, and that will be especially true if he doesn’t even ask for the sign-and-trade on July 1, because he wants Brooklyn to keep assets.”