 |
| (Getty Images) |
Chris Paul has been traded to the Los Angeles Clippers for Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman, Al-Farouq Aminu, and Minnesota's unprotected 1st round pick in 2012. The Hornets will also send two second round picks.
Well, I'm glad David Stern finally got a deal that he liked. After days of speculation and conversation with the Lakers and Clippers, the Hornets were finally able to give David Stern an acceptable deal and land Chris Paul with a team that he'll likely re-sign with.
The fact that David Stern let these proposed trades go public is really what bothers me. In a normal situation, the GM would consult the owner behind closed doors and details of the trade would not have gotten out as easily as they did. It's good that the Chris Paul debacle won't drag on all year (don't worry, we still have Dwight Howard) but Stern could have handled this MUCH better.
The interesting thing about this is the impact that it's had on the players that weren't actually traded. The previous offer involved Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, and Goran Dragic. Once news of the rescinded trade broke, Lamar Odom was so upset that he instantly requested a trade and ended up going to the defending champion Dallas Mavericks in exchange for a trade exception. Kevin Martin was also reportedly not going to attend Rockets practice.
I'm not really sure what this means for the Clippers. They recently claimed Chauncey Billups off waivers and now have an abundance of quality point guards: Chris Paul, Chauncey Billups, Mo Williams, Randy Foye, and Eric Bledsoe. You've gotta think they'ed try to move a few of these guys for some quality players to fill out their roster now that they lost their starting shooting guard, small forward, and center.
Not a bad deal for the Hornets, but it's definitely not as good as the previous one that was on the table from the Lakers and Rockets.
