Dwight Howard talks resurface as Nets once again enter the picture

The Nets are reportedly interested in trading for Dwight Howard again. (Harry How/Getty Images) Stop us if you've heard this one before: The Brooklyn Nets are

The Nets are reportedly interested in trading for Dwight Howard again. (Harry How/Getty Images)

Stop us if you've heard this one before: The Brooklyn Nets are preparing to make a run at Dwight Howard, again.

Nets general manager Billy King is reportedly searching for a third team with a piece attractive enough to facilitate the trade, according to Jarrod Rudolph of RealGM, and feels like now is the time to once again ramp up efforts because of continuous struggles out of Los Angeles for the Lakers to live up to expectations, much less a .500 record. The general sentiment out of Brooklyn of course is that Howard would still listen to opportunities to sign long-term with Brooklyn.

According to sources, King was planning to contact the Minnesota Timberwolves in order to gauge their interest in a three-team trade that would send Kevin Love to the Lakers, Brook Lopez to the Timberwolves and Dwight Howard to the Nets.

The proposed trade is less probable now with Love currently rehabbing a broken hand that is expected to keep him out until mid-March.

But King is still interested in making it work, though he reportedly won't make it a focal point to the extent that he did last summer when the Nets spending much of their time courting former Orlando Magic center.

King still has some time though; the NBA trade deadline is Feb. 21. Howard is in the middle of a 1-year, $19.2 million contract with the Lakers this season, so If he's not traded by the deadline, expect these talks to surface again with regularity as several teams will no doubt enter the conversation to sign Howard as a free-agent this coming summer. His Staples Center neighbor, Chris Paul, also enters the market after the Los Angeles Clippers pay him $17.2 million this season.

ESPN reported via RealGM