Whom Should The Hornets Trade: Tyson Chandler Or David West?

Especially not after Marcin Gortat has already agreed to sign with the Dallas Mavericks and Rasheed Wallace has agreed to sign with the Boston Celtics, which means there is no player available who can possibly come in and be as productive as Chandler was when he was at his best.

Trading Chandler make the Hornets payroll situation a lot easier to deal with, but the team's success would suffer without a player of Chandler’s caliber and no one to take his place.

So this brings us to West.

A David West trade can have the same kind of effect on the Hornets payroll as a Chandler trade would, but to the contrary of trading Chandler, the Hornets can get some real value for West.

Two-time all-stars always have value for a team in trades and West would make any contender a much better team with his presence on their front line.

He is in the prime of his career and is an outstanding character guy, which is something else that affects a player's value in trade discussions.

Trading West might make Paul unhappy due to their close relationship, but he would be able to understand the deal if the team were able to get some value for West that would make the Hornets a better team.

From what I have seen of West over the past two seasons, the Hornets should be able to get two players and a draft picks in exchange for him, and if the Hornets are offered a deal like that, can they really turn it down?

They may have been offered a deal like this and turned it down, citing West's potential and the key role he has played for this team over the past two seasons.  But sometimes sacrifices have to be made to turn a good team into a great team.

At this point, the Hornets are at a crossroads and whatever decision they make can have a profound affect on what happens to this team over the next few seasons.

But they must review all the possibilities and make the best decision for this team, because if they make the wrong one, it will be a long time before they can revisit the glory of that 2007 season.

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