NBA player carousel may finally be over

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From the fan who despises him the most to the player himself, it's safe to say that anybody who was still paying attention is relieved that the Dwight Howard trade saga is over. But while many have focused on the current culture of the NBA, in which players can demand to go to their preferred destination, either via trade or as free agents, a cursory look at the landscape shows that there simply aren't many more moves to be made when it comes to the league's top talent.
Over the past few years, we've seen Howard, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and Deron Williams all force their way out of town to major markets, while the likes of LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Amar'e Stoudemire departed in free agency. That doesn't even include Dwyane Wade helping Pat Riley put together the "Big Three" in Miami, max contract extensions for Thunder teammates Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook or Joe Johnson signing a massive extension in Atlanta, then getting traded to Brooklyn to pair up with Williams.
The list goes on -- Dirk Nowitzki's extension in Dallas, Blake Griffin's max deal from the Clippers, Kevin Garnett postponing retirement to take another shot at a title in Boston, Ray Allen leaving the Celtics for the Heat, Steve Nash leaving the Suns for his former rival Lakers and, of course, Derrick Rose's five-year pact to stay in his hometown -- but you get the point: NBA superstars, for the most part, likely won't be changing uniforms for a while.
Barring impatient front-office types getting antsy -- imagine if the Lakers are somehow a bust or the Knicks still can't find a way to get Anthony and Stoudemire to co-exist harmoniously on the court -- don't anticipate the same whirlwind of player movement, not from top-tier stars, in the near future.
After the league's more free-spending franchises went all-in on marquee players, they have no choice but to see how things play out this season, lest tacitly admitting to fans that they made major mistakes, and that the rosters they assembled aren't truly equipped to get to the promised land. Whether it's the old guard of the Lakers, Celtics and Knicks or upstarts like the Heat, Mavericks and Nets -- the Spurs are exceptions to that rule, as an upper-echelon team that's competitive while exhibiting fiscal responsibility; it remains to be seen what route the Thunder, their management-style descendants, will ultimately choose -- a win-now mentality has mostly superseded building through the draft or developing young players around the NBA, meaning that the future is treated as some distant thing that may or may not be around for organizations to enjoy with their current stars.
Now that Howard's saga has been temporarily resolved, there aren't many impact players presently on the block, according to league scuttlebutt, and middling free-agent class next summer (the aforementioned Paul, Atlanta's Josh Smith and potentially Oklahoma City's restricted free-agent duo of James Harden and Serge Ibaka, underrated veteran Al Jefferson and recently-jettisoned dominant centers Howard and Andrew Bynum top the list) doesn't allow most teams to drastically improve instantaneously, placing even more significance on how things shake out this season.
Trades can always be made, but without the drama of a star demanding out of his current locale, the upcoming NBA campaign, barring major in-season injuries, could be somewhat of a throwback year, as what happens on the court, not off of it, is the main focus.

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