Eventually Chris Paul (photo ©Keith Allison) went to Los Angeles but to the Clippers and not to the Lakers. In return the New Orleans Hornets get guard Eric Gordon, forward Al-Farouq Aminu, center Chris Kaman and a first pick in the draft.
Chris Paul will form a formidable pair with Blake Griffin but the Los Angeles Clippers have acquired other good players such as Chauncey Billups and Caron Butler. Maybe CP3 would’ve preferred to go to the Lakers and play with Kobe Bryant and possibly Dwight Howard if he’ll arrive but this year the Clippers have the potential to be an excellent team.
This is the end of a very unusual story less than a week after the NBA called of the deal that would’ve sent Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers. The League is the owner of the New Orleans Hornets and for this reason its interference in the trades generated a big controversy.
If the agreement with the Los Angeles Lakers, and therefore the one with the Houston Rockets too, had been approved, now the New Orleans Hornets would have Lamar Odom, Kevin Martin, Goran Dragic and Luis Scola, a group of players overall better than those obtained from the Clippers, granted that the value of the first pick gained in this deal is a question mark.
The deal with the Clippers is better for the Hornets than the one with Lakers only concerning the obtained players’ salaries. In fact, only Chris Kaman has a big salary – $12.2 million – but he’s at the last year of his contract. This would result in a better situation for the Hornets from a financial point of view and according to people who defend the NBA choice that would make the team more attractive for potential buyers.
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A year ago, when the NBA purchased the New Orleans Hornets, Phil Jackson, then the Los Angeles Lakers coach, pointed out the anomalous situation specifically considering the Chris Paul trade. Phil Jackson was heavily fined by the NBA in spring for just hinting at the possibility of a lockout.
The New Orleans Hornets have got a good counterpart in exchange for Chris Paul so the NBA owners can claim they didn’t act in conflict of interest. However, we hope they’ll find buyers for the Hornets to end a very abnormal situation.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Clippers have a team that can really make their fans happy. The coming battles with the Lakers will be very interesting!
