R eality is setting in for the Orlando Magic, and it’s not pretty.

Now that Orlando’s postseason is officially over, the Dwight Howard saga that dominated headlines for much of the season is poised to rear its ugly head once again, this time, potentially destroying the entire organization.

It has never become more apparent that the Magic are being held hostage by this Howard debacle. Subsequently, it has never been more apparent that the franchise will be forced to make an extremely difficult decision. And soon.

From the Orlando Sentinel:

Sadly, in front of a sellout crowd he helped cultivate, in an arena he helped inaugurate, for a franchise he helped resuscitate, this was likely the last time Orlando fans will see Stan The Man as their coach. After losing a second consecutive home game, the Magic now trail this series 3-1 heading back up to Indiana. You can forget about the Magic’s traditional “Blue and White Ignite” marketing slogan. This thing is over. The Magic’s chances of winning this series are all but dead. The only thing missing is the toe tag.

Much like Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort, it seems that—in organizational terms of course—when it comes to Howard and head coach Stan Van Gundy, neither can live while the other survives. Van Gundy cannot have free reign to coach as long as Howard is in Orlando, and Howard will never leave it all on the floor as long as Van Gundy remains the coach.

What are the Magic to do?

The easy answer is pick the superstar. Herniated disk or not, Andrew Bynum or not, Howard is still the most dominant center in the game. He made the Magic title contenders, and without him, they are hardly a playoff team.

In theory then, Orlando could just point Van Gundy toward the exit to keep its cornerstone, its playoff ticket, happy. And yet, there’s a danger to that logic.

Howard may never be fully satisfied with the Magic, Van Gundy or no Van Gundy. Without the current head coach, Orlando will still be a team comprised of one superstar, marginal role players and no cap space.

What’s more is, Van Gundy has been the one who has yielded results from this disjointed docket of athletes. He has turned an athletically challenged J.J. Redick into a three-point assassin who can now slash and kick. He has created enough space on the floor to allow the Magic to become one of the league’s best three-point shooting teams. Most importantly, though, he is the one who has stuck by this organization, been to hell and back, and back to hell again.

Howard, on the other hand, has jumped ship, without officially jumping ship. Retaining Van Gundy renders Howard a serious flight risk, but severing ties with him doesn’t ensure Howard doesn’t sever ties with the organization. If Howard were to commit long term upon Van Gundy’s departure, it’s a different story, though arguably the same result.

But Howard isn’t going to do that, so the Magic shouldn’t rid themselves of a coach who will extract every bit of value out of the roster put in front of him, just to have less than an outside chance at keeping a self-centered, now potentially injury-ridden, big man.

It’s time to call a spade a spade, a lost cause a lost cause—Dwight Howard is as good as gone, there’s no reason Stan Van Gundy should be too.

Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His basketball musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com. Follow @danfavale on Twitter for his latest posts and all things NBA.

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