I thought this was a silly decision by Stern. This was one of the best packages the Hornets have been offered for Paul, and it really wasn't that great for the Lakers, so he certainly didn't nix it because it ruined competitive balance. Yes, Paul is the best player in the deal right now, which is generally the key...but, first, a great ball-dominant point guard has never been the ideal running mate for Kobe Bryant, second, the Lakers lost a lot of length which was one of their strengths and, third, they lost a ton of depth. It's extremely arguable that the Lakers would have been a better team if this trade had gone through. And, of course, the elephant in the room is Paul's knees, which are on the same general path as Roy's. He may not suffer the same catastrophic result as Roy did, but it's a huge risk factor. Stern almost certainly nixed it because of the over-emotional but under-logical pressure from the other owners. Yet, this is no way changes the way the NBA does business going forward (as some are claiming in this thread). Stern was able to nix this because the NBA "owns" the Hornets. Unless the NBA is going to start holding other NBA teams in trust, stars going to big markets won't be stopped in the future. So, ultimately, this was a meaningless attempt to grandstand by Stern. I don't really care. I don't think the deal would have materially changed the landscape of the NBA if it had gone through and I don't think Stern's decision will have any consequences to future deal-making. It's completely inconsequential (though amusing in the furor it's generated) but still a silly thing to do.
I don't think Stern had anything to do with this decision. He is a puppet of the 29 owners and those owners by an larger were not in favor of this trade. They have veto power over personel moves as collective owners of the Hornets. Sterns personal feelings are irrelevant and had no impact on the trade being blocked.
Is that so? It's run by committee? I thought that it was held in trust by the NBA and the league office had final oversight. In that case, remove Stern from my post entirely. It was a silly move and a meaningless grandstanding by the owners in general.
The lockout was about just this. He was on the verge of doing EXACTLY what Carmelo did last year. Right or wrong, CP3 got a taste of his own medicine.
Marc Stein @ESPNSteinLine ESPN sources: Hornets/Lakers/Rockets cautiously optimistic they'll have reworked CP3 trade to present to NBA perhaps as soon as Saturday 9:39 PM, Dec 9th via UberSocial for BlackBerry · Details
It was an old roster full of expensive players on the downside of their careers. That team needs to get sold and shouldn't be saddled with garbage contracts. Get Rondo, Curry or Gordon in a trade and the NBA will approve.
"NBA wants Hornets to get younger talent, picks. One source says, "Still working through it all," and there could be resolution on Saturday." - Woj There literally isn't any young talent on the Rocket or Laker roster worth typing. WTF...
I heard the NBA said the picks were likely too high to be that valuable. They would need to have the Rockets send their 1st rounder to the NO for this to work. Since it's obvious the Rockets are tanking it, they wont do agree to that.
Paul has bad knees and I think he is on the decline. Now, if they also end up with Howard there will be blood.
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=7tpqeya Houston pick goes to NO. Lakers pick goes to Houston. Lakers send 3 million to NO
Chris Mannix: Rival executives expecting three-team deal to get worked out to meet NBA approval. "They are going to get there," texted a GM
