Chris Paul should sign with the Lakers in the off season

[CelticG1]

Better than nothing, which is what they'll get now.

I disagree.  I'd rather let Chris Paul walk and start over with lots of cap space, and a few bad years worth of lotto picks, then take on 3 good, but nowhere near great, players who make a combined $28MM or s and will tie up all cap flexibility.  If this trade goes through, New Orleans will be mired in mediocrity for years to come.  Not where you want to be in the NBA.  Very short-sighted trade by N.O.

Yeah I agree withthis.

A big thing with how bad this trade is the salary that would be incoming. Lamar Odom must be making pretty close to rondo money himself


I don't think they could have done much worse. I absoultey think rondo + green + 2 first rounders is absolutely better

[Moranis]

Just to say a big f u to David Stern, Dan Gilbert and the like.  I know he won't get the big money contract, but he should do it anyway. 

What is just odd is that it was vetoed in a large part to show the players that they can't dictate where they can play, but the reality is that was the best deal the Hornets were offered for Paul.  They got three legit starters in their primes, a young backup PG, and a 1st round pick.  That is a pretty good trade.  Had Golden State given up Curry or the Clippers given up Gordon he would have gone to those teams. 

Now the Hornets can't trade Paul anywhere (unless there is a new owner quickly) and he will walk at the end of the year for nothing.  Talk about killing the franchise's value, which was supposedly being protected.

From this article http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AiXOhrBY0ue6S9RBWJ1gfsI5nYcB?slug=aw-wojnarowski_chris_paul_lakers_hornets_nba_120811

“We were all told by the league he was a tradeable player, and now they’re saying that Dell doesn’t have the authority to make the trade?” said an NBA executive who had periodic talks with New Orleans throughout the process. “Now they’re saying that Dell is an idiot, that he can’t do his job. [Expletive] this whole thing. David’s drunk on power, and he doesn’t give a [expletive] about the players, and he doesn’t give a [expletive] about the hundreds of hours the teams put in to make that deal.

“How do the Lakers explain this to Odom? How does Houston deal with the guys it just tried to trade? Scola and Martin are going to be p---ed at them, and who knows how long that takes to get over? Explain to me how the league kills this Pau Gasol deal, but allows Kwame Brown for Pau Gasol?

“To me, this makes the league feel like it’s rigged, that Stern just does whatever Stern wants to do. He’s messed up the competitive balance of this league a lot worse by killing the deal because you’ve completely destroyed the planning that New Orleans and Houston did and left them in shambles over this. I’ve never been so discouraged about this league, never so down.

“I mean, come on: Chris Paul is leaving New Orleans in 66 games. He’s gone. And what’s Dell Demps, and that franchise, going to have to show for it?”

No GM gets to execute deals without being approved by ownership, so I don't know why Demps would think he could... He did his job in setting up and presenting a deal, but he doesn't have final say over a deal. No GM does.

he had the authority and was talking with the league the whole time.

[Fafnir]

he had the authority and was talking with the league the whole time.

I don't know if this is true. My guess is that they gave him the authority, but weren't kept in the loop as things started happening quickly.