Courtney Lee points to Orlando's decision to break up the team that went to the 2009 NBA Finals as the starting point in Dwight Howard's discontent that has led to a trade request.

Lee returned to Orlando as a member of the Rockets on Monday. After the Finals, Lee was traded to the Nets in a deal for Vince Carter.

“I’m not surprised (Dwight requested a trade),” said Lee. ”When they broke up the team in 2009, you could just see the frustration in Dwight’s face. We talked about it a couple of times and you could tell he was upset about it.

”Most franchise players are involved in the decision-making,” Lee added, “and Dwight’s  feeling like he’s not involved.  If you’re going to build around a player, you should communicate with that player and see who he’d like around him.”

The Lakers defeated the Magic in five games, but Lee missed a layup in Game 2 that would evened the series at one.

“It’s not like we got slaughtered in the Finals,” Lee said. “You’d have thought a team that went to the Finals would have stayed together. We got that far in 2009 and the next season we would have had another year’s worth of experience and playing together.”