Agreed anon, its bollocks. They can't give Howard that kind of raise under the current collective bargaining agreement. If they did, they would have to trade Gasol AND Kobe, or Gasol, Bynum and Odom just to make the salaries match for the trade!
At best the Lakers would have Howard and Kobe under contract for over $60 mill next season, plus Artest, an over the hill Fisher and a bunch of minimum wage scrubs that wouldn't get the job done.
As Kobe gets older and retires, Howard will then be stuck on a team with no talent and not enough cap space to sign anyone, ever!
Also, there is no way either the Magic or Lakers would make that kind of decision right now, just before they know what the next collective bargaining agreement will look like. The Magic will wait and see what the next agreement looks like, then if they still can't get Howard to sign, they will look to move him for the best deal they can get during next season.