Chris Paul Trade Nixed By League

Yahoo! Sports reports that the NBA has stepped in and stopped the proposed three-team trade that would send Chris Paul to Los Angeles, Pau Gasol to Houston, and a variety of players to New Orleans.  Via Adrian Wojnarowski’s Twitter…

The NBA has caved to pressure from owners that the appearance of this deal, on heels of lockout, had to be stopped, sources tell Y! Sports.

“The deal is off,” a source involved in the talks tells Y! Sports. “It’s dead.”

So, basically, it seems that a bunch of owners who failed to land Paul are pissed off.  They’re probably alleging that the league sent him to LA as a favor to the Lakers… mostly because they’re mad that the Hornets didn’t take their lesser offers and the Lakers pulled that sh!t off. 

Another less-obvious aspect to consider is that the Hornets were adding salary in this deal.  The Lakers were dropping salary.  This means the owners would’ve had to shell out more money to pay New Orleans’ salary expenses while also losing shared luxury tax revenue from the Lakers.  Owners were likely angry about this in addition to being angry that a big-market, championship-caliber team like the Lakers acquired Paul.

To sum it up in one line, this trade didn’t go through because the league owns the Hornets.  This put them in position to nix it, so they did–for “basketball reasons.”

By disallowing this trade for “basketball reasons,” I think the NBA has made a mistake.  This trade was fair for all parties involved, except for maybe Houston (they gave up an awful lot to land Gasol alone).  The Hornets got a lot of quality players in return for a guy who’s prepared to walk at the end of the season.  Given the circumstances, this was hardly highway robbery.  Not only was it not highway robbery, it would’ve benefitted the Hornets.  Now they’re back to square one.  Actually, make that square zero.  I mean, if the league won’t allow Paul to be dealt to the Lakers then they can’t let New Orleans send him anywhere else, right?  If the Hornets don’t have an owner by the trade deadline then they could be forced to lose Paul for nothing but some cap space.  How the hell does that benefit the Hornets more than acquiring Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Lamar Odom, Goran Dragic, and draft picks?

Damn.  What a mess… a mess that looks to be getting messier.  Chris Paul is reportedly irate about the whole situation and will not attend training camp with the Hornets.  Instead, he and Billy Hunter will look for ways to fight the NBA’s decision.  I don’t imagine that the Lakers, Hornets, and Rockets executives who pulled this deal off are too pleased either. 

What if the Lakers and Hornets re-work the deal so that New Orleans isn’t taking on so much salary?  Will the league allow it then, or will they put a stop to any potential CP3 trade by simply stating that he can’t be dealt until a new ownership group is in place?  It’s certainly a convenient excuse, but that doesn’t make it right, especially considering the fact that trades involving the NBA-owned Hornets have already been completed (you may recall the league not pitching a fit over last season’s Marcus Thornton/Carl Landry swap).  The league shouldn’t be allowed to selectively veto trades that aren’t even lopsided, should they?  I don’t think so.

Stay tuned.  I think Paul could still end up in a Laker uniform.  This is not a good look at all for the league from a PR standpoint.  The last thing the NBA needed on the day the lockout officially ended was another business dispute, and now that’s exactly what they’ve got.