Chris Paul to Lakers: How Rest of League Will Respond to Blockbuster Deal

Chris Paul has reportedly been shipped off to the Lakers, and that leaves one question.

How will the rest of the league respond?

In a word, panic.

The Los Angeles Lakers are now the NBA's next superpower, and most of the other teams are going to have to play catch-up.

You can expect plenty of teams (including the Lakers) to start going after a Dwight Howard trade even harder. In fact, you can bet that more teams will go out and try to acquire guys who were on the trade block a week or so ago, like Marc Gasol or Rudy Gay. 

Free agents, both restricted and of the "un" variety, will start getting a lot more calls.

Jason Richardson, one of the best unrestricted free agents available, hasn't gotten a lot of exposure in the last week. 

You can bet a team like Chicago, now desperate to compete, will make a run after him or someone like Jamal Crawford.

In essence, I wouldn't be surprised to see all the other big-market teams that are right on the fringe of competing make some big moves in the next few days.

A team like the Warriors, who have lost out on Chris Paul and Tyson Chandler in the last day, should make noise in the upcoming days.

Possibly the Celtics. They were going after Paul and now might have to set their sights on a different target. I can't imagine Rajon Rondo is happy after being offered up to the Hornets. He might have to go. 

And then there's the Magic. The Lakers, if the proposed trade goes down, gained two trade exceptions. 

Orlando is pretty strapped for cash. I'm sure they would love to have those. 

If you thought today was crazy, and believe me it was, it's bound to start a chain reaction for a bunch of more big moves in the next couple of weeks.

Take a deep breath while you can.