The proposed trade that would have landed Chris Paul in Los Angeles is dead according to multiple news outlets. The failed trade would have sent Chris Paul to Los Angeles with the Lakers sending Pau Gasol to Houston and the Hornets receiving a package of Lamar Odom, Kevin Martin, Goran Dragic and Luis Scola along with the New York Knicks 2012 first round pick from the Rockets and Lakers.
The deal was nixed due to an outcry from NBA owners who were upset that the super-star point guard was being dealt to the Lakers.
I for one was astonished at the haul that Demps was able to bring back for just Paul. He rebuilt his entire starting lineup outside of Emeka Okafor by trading one player and he received a first round pick on top of it. How can the league possibly axe this trade that would have set up the Hornets to rebuild on the fly similarly to how the Nuggets did last year?
I have zero love for the Lakers, but it is ridiculous that the jealousy of other owners in the NBA was enough for league to turn over a trade that would have dramatically fixed one of it’s franchises. I can not believe that this was disallowed. David Stern and Adam Siver have a lot of explaining to do, especially to the fans of New Orleans and general manager Dell Demps. All Demps did was his job, he tried to find the best deal for his franchise but jealous owners were able to pressure the league into canceling a perfectly fair and even trade.
I even had questions about how Paul would gel with Kobe in the back court. Both are great players but how do they co-exist in the backcourt when both players need the ball in their hands to succeed? The Lakers front court would have been very thin as the result of this trade, without Odom and Gasol the Lakers would have lost of a lot of their size which was an important part of their success in recent years. The fear among owners was that this was the beginning of what would have wound up being LA’s version or the “Big Three” with a Dwight Howard for Bynum deal following shortly. Even if they had been correct in their assessment, it’s unfair to Mitch Kupack and Jerry Buss that their teams dominance over the past 30 years has resulted in so much jealous that a fair and even trade bringing them a superstar was destroyed.
The problem here is that this is professional sports, not a fantasy league. You can’t think in terms of trades being fair or unfair no matter who the owners of team are. The NBA screwed up tonight, and Dell Demps and the fans of the New Orleans Hornets are the ones who will unfairly pay the price.
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