That’s the summary, but let’s zoom out to the big picture. I’m not sure anybody has put together all the dots on this, but consider the following:

• Josh Smith is from Atlanta.

• Dwight Howard is from Atlanta.

• Dwight Howard and Josh Smith played together in high school and remain friends; in fact, Howard was the best man in Smith’s wedding.

• Chris Paul is not from Atlanta but is from North Carolina and wanted to play in Atlanta coming out of college.

• Chris Paul, Dwight Howard and Josh Smith all will be free agents next summer.

• Dwight Howard’s main target in 2013 free agency, Brooklyn, just used up all its potential cap space in Monday’s trade with Atlanta.

• Atlanta now has only two players under contract for 2013-14, center Al Horford and first-round pick John Jenkins, and will have well north of $40 milion in cap room.

• Atlanta could rather easily trade Horford, an All-Star center with a below-market contract, to create more room if needed.

Yes, this is the real endgame for Atlanta: not just Howard, but Howard and CP3. The Hawks now are in position to do it and can get to that point in several ways.

via John Hollinger of ESPN