The deal that would have sent Chris Paul from New Orleans to Los Angeles in a three-team deal is dead, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. There is one way to describe this latest development:
Twitter / @CP3: WoW … via kwout
Wow, indeed Mr. Paul. Wow, indeed.
Wojnarowski reported several owners were upset with the rumored deal between the league-owned Hornets and the big-market Lakers. Remember, the owners were all in New York meeting to approve the new collective bargaining agreement. They were all together when news of the deal broke and, Wojnarowski reports, it was several owners who urged Stern to nix the deal. Every trade is approved by the commissioner’s office, although this approval is usually a formality (like physicals before trades are completed).
Thankfully it did not interrupt the 25-5 vote that ended the lockout and set the path for the season to start.
Wojnarowski reported that Hornets general manager Dell Demps was “disconsolate” and that several general managers were lauding Demps for the value he was able to get for his star player.
So where do the Hornets go from here? What deal will be approved by the league? Will the Hornets get any value for Paul?
Dell Demps has to be wondering what he can do with Chris Paul now. What team will take Paul without the promise of an extension knowing that the Hornets are painted into some kind of corner. New Orleans lost a lot of its leverage by revealing its hand and having this trade rejected. The best deal, the deal they wanted, was taken away from them. Don’t think that other teams don’t realize that and don’t see the writing on the wall.
Now, the trade was never official. The league has to approve of all trades. So the media coverage quickly treating the deal as done when in actuality it wasn’t does a lot to explain the outrage. David Stern was exercising a right he has as the commissioner.
Of course, now he has some explaining to do on why this deal was rejected. Derek Fisher and the Players Union will probably ask why the deal was ultimately rejected as one of their executive committee members is involved in this deal. And the fact that the Hornets are owned by the league, also makes this stink to high heaven.
I don’t think we have heard the last of this deal. Not yet.
