After three consecutive days of intense negotiations and talks with at least four different NBA teams, the Brooklyn Nets gave up all hope of acquiring Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard on Wednesday, and they turned their attention to giving a maximum contract to Brook Lopez instead.

It was reported that Lopez had agreed to a four-year, $61 million contract with the Nets a deal that ended all hope of acquiring Howard.

There were reports on Monday that had Howard bound for the Nets in a four-team deal involving six draft picks and as many as 10 players. That deal was rumored to be extremely imminent, with only some minor tweaking and ironing out to be done, but two days later, it was officially dead, when both the Nets and Magic announced that the deal was over and the Magic was going to concentrate on hiring a new head coach, rather than dealing Howard.

It ended a frustrating year-long courtship, one that had Howard telling anyone and everyone that the only team he would play for in 2012-13 would be the Nets.

Now, that seems impossible to happen, especially since Lopez, the centerpiece of the proposed Howard trade from the Nets’ standpoint, cannot be dealt until January at the earliest.

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