NBA Trades: Houston Rockets Giving Up Too Much in Chris Paul, Pau Gasol Deal?

Latest trade talks surrounding Chris Paul and the Lakers say that a three-team deal between New Orleans, Los Angeles and Houston is all but done.

According to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, who refuses to be scooped by another basketball reporter as he has seemingly broken every major story in the past year, the deal is close to being done.

The proposed trade would send Chris Paul to the Lakers, who would send Lamar Odom to the Hornets and Pau Gasol to the Rockets. The Rockets would then send Kevin Martin, Luis Scola and Goran Dragic to New Orleans.

Obviously, the biggest story here is Paul going to the Lakers and the Hornets trading him before his trade value possibly decreases as the season wears on. However, looking at this trade, I can't help but think the Rockets got the raw end of the deal.

Giving away Kevin Martin is defensible, as he is a great scorer, but a travesty on defense. He's statistically their best player, but he's not their most important player, that title would go to Scola.

Scola has been the gritty identity of the team, a player that makes them as unique as they are. Obviously, Gasol is a better player, but he completely changes the dynamics of their team.

With the trade, the Rockets' second-best player goes from Martin to Kyle Lowry, who is a good player, but I don't see him as a viable No. 2 option on a basketball team.

There is one thing that this trade will give the Rockets, which is about $4 million more in cap space, which they could be planning to use on another big-name player.

After trading away Martin, they're going to need a player to carry the scoring load in the backcourt. Possibilities are few and far between with the best shot looking like Jamal Crawford or Jason Richardson.

Houston could also end up going after big-name free agent center Nene at this point, creating a monstrous frontcourt, but that would leave them with a weak backcourt.

As it stands now with the reported trade, the Rockets would have a starting five of Lowry, Courtney Lee, Chase Budinger, Gasol and either Hasheem Thabeet or Jordan Hill. 

While nothing can really be said until free agency ends, I'm just not sure that this makes the Rockets a better team.