sportsjunkie

The NBA has vetoed the Chris Paul three way trade that would send him to the Lakers. Why? Because they own the Hornets. As the owners of a team getting a deal that would give them three starters (Odom, K-Mart, and Scola), a decent guard (Dragic), and two draft picks for a player who already has one foot out the door (Paul is an unrestricted free agent after this season), why in the HELL would you veto that trade?! Here is why:

As an owner of a team, you want two things in general: to make money and to stay ahead of the competition. By allowing this trade to happen, the NBA would lose money, because they were not really getting a star player in return, and Chris Paul puts fans in seats. It was reported earlier that the Hornets wanted either Steph Curry from Golden State, Eric Gordon from the Clippers, or Danny Granger from the Pacers. Totally unfair deals that would yield them a star in return for one year of Chris Paul's services (he might have signed with the Clippers, but Gordon was assured he wasn't being traded). Obviously they are looking for a player that would yield them the highest return.

Now that we have established financial motive, the league also wanted to stay ahead of their competition. This may not have been their main reason for texting Stern ruthless messages after hearing about the deal, but it definitely is a factor that is to the owners advantage. Nobody wants to see the Lakers get better (especially myself), which is why I think Okafor must have been involved in the trade, because the Lakers were going to be pretty hard to stop. They would also be winning the Chris Paul sweepstakes and getting a superstar for years to come or setting themselves up to acquire an additional star (Dwight Howard), and nobody wanted that to happen.

This is totally unfair to Chris Paul and the individual teams (its fans and players) and should not have happened. What kind of precedent does this set for other teams? Is Chris Paul basically untouchable? Does a team have to give up their future to trade for this guy? Not a good day for the NBA, I wonder how they are going to justify this one.

Chris Paul's reaction:

Paul is now exploring legal options with Billy Hunter to make this deal go through. If I was him, I would hold out. Screw the owners.

A Fan's Perspective:

"This is a black mark on the NBA. They failed to take the best possible deal, thereby devaluing the team to the city of New Orleans and future ownership. This establishes a precedent, one in which if Boston acquires CP3 tomorrow for Rondo, people will ask: what was the difference? I'm more upset at the NBA right now than I was the entire lockout." -- Adam Moledina (The Biggest Lakers Fan Alive)