NBA Trade Rumors: Only Los Angeles Clippers Make Sense in Chris Paul Sweepstakes

Once word broke that Chris Paul requested a trade from the New Orleans Hornets, every NBA fan crossed their fingers hoping he would land with their squad.

Hate to break the news, but unless you are a fan of the Boston Celtics, Golden State Warriors or the Los Angeles Clippers, you’re out of luck.

Sports Illustrated’s Sam Amick has confirmed that the Celtics, Warriors and Clippers are the only teams in serious negotiations regarding CP3.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported Paul suggested that the team which signed Tyson Chandler would immediately be the front-runner, but Amick reports the Warriors never received such a memo and the Clippers have no plans to bring in Chandler as they attempt to bring back restricted free agent DeAndre Jordan, who may in turn be CP3 trade bait.

The Celtics are in the mix but Rajon Rondo, the main piece of a potential trade, has been told he won’t be leaving Boston. Unless Jeff Green is also involved, this deal could never be pulled off anyway.

The Warriors would be insane to not address the horrific issues they have upfront. With Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis in the Bay Area…Paul is not necessary.

That leaves the Clippers.

They have a budding star in Blake Griffin that is the best in the game at throwing down alley-oops. It just so happens that CP3 is the best distributor in the league of said passes. He would team with up-and-comer Eric Gordon to form a core three players that are all under the age of 26 and all capable of averaging 20 points a game.

According to Amick, any deal to get Paul would likely involve Jordan, Eric Bledsoe and potentially Gordon. Draft picks could be involved as well. While losing any of these players would hurt, they won’t be giving up all three.

The Clips have the cap space, the all-important gigantic LA media market and the talent to convince Paul he wants to play there.

Paul knows it’s impossible for the Knicks to pull off a trade to get him and he doesn’t want to go to a team like the Rockets that are short on talent.

Under the bright lights with an incredibly talented center and solid foundation around him…Paul would be crazy to veto a trade to the Clippers.

Then again, he may not have a choice.