Jones on NBA: The almost-trade that could be
Posted December 9, 2011 11:27 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It was a week ago in the last few paragraphs of this musing that I wondered if New Orleans general manager Dell Demps had complete autonomy. Well I sure found out the answer to that question when David Stern did his best Dikembe Mutumbo by stopping the proposed three-way trade that would have made Chris Paul a Los Angeles Lakers.
In return Los Angeles was set to send Pau Gasol to the Houston Rockets and Lamar Odom to New Orleans Hornets while the Rockets were destined to ship Kevin Martin, Luis Scola and Goran Dragic to the Crescent City as well.
So what happened? Well, believe what you want but here’s my view. With the idea of competitive balance being trumpeted all the through the collective bargaining discussions, eyebrows were certainly raised when this deal was set to be done.
So how could the NBA, who owns the Hornets, allow a trade of Chris Paul to Los Angeles and basically sign off on the formation of another super team? Owners were saying “Why did we endure a lockout, what, for more of the same?”
With the howls coming from owners, David Stern quashed the trade. Amid cries that it was unfair to make the deal, Stern issued this statement where he said the deal was done for “basketball reasons” without consideration of other owners’ protestations.
Yes some owners were upset, particularly Dan Gilbert of the Cleveland Cavaliers who expressed his frustration with these remarks directed toward the formation of “super teams” and the rest of the league being the Washington Generals. Were other owners worried that the remaining assets that the Lakers possessed (namely Andrew Bynum) were going to be used to swing a deal for another big name free-agent player named Dwight Howard?
Now there is still as chance after an appeal of sorts that the trade actually happens. If the deal doesn’t go through by Monday, there is talk that there could be legal action.
The truth is it was a pretty good deal for New Orleans, one that was so well thought out that media folks were set to cast an executive of the year vote for Demps. But with the NBA trying to sell the team, they more than likely figured it was better to have Paul there than other pieces. It will be interesting to see what happens at the end of the season if Paul hasn’t been traded and walks away, possibly to the Lakers, as a free agent.
Oh and don’t think this situation is being monitored closely by other general managers and Howard himself. It’s the Hornets who are now in a precarious position as other general managers will be “low-balling.” If this transaction does not happen and a trade is made, conspiracy theories will be running wild as to the NBA “sending” Chris Paul to a certain destination.
Well, how’s that for the first day after the new CBA was ratified.
