With the NBA Trade Deadline coming closer and closer, the Orlando Magic have bumped up efforts to improve relations with superstar forward Dwight Howard with hopes he will stay with the Magic after the season.

According to a report by Alex Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Orlando Magic CEO Alex Martins is encouraged by the relationship he and Dwight Howard have struck up despite the fact that Martins has only been running the team for three months. Martins has been doing all he can to avoid a scenario that would involve trading Howard at the deadline.

"I've been at this for 90 days - not seven years - and if I'm going to have an influence on the process, I need to utilize as much as time as we possibly can before we make a decision," Martins says. "And I've built a good relationship with him. We've had good conversations with him and some of his people."