New Orleans Hornets Win Big in Chris Paul Trade with the LA Lakers

In the first blockbuster deal of the fresh NBA free agency period, the New Orleans Hornets send all-world point guard Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers for Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol.

To make things even more interesting, the Hornets dealt Gasol to the Houston Rockets for Luis Scola, Kevin Martin, Goran Dragic, and a 2012 first-round pick.

After taking a moment to let my head stop spinning, I tried to sort out who won the deal.

First things first: Houston absolutely lost the deal. Sure, Gasol is a great player, but they gave up way too much for him. You have to think that part of the reason Pao was so effective in L.A. was because he was playing opposite another seven-footer in Andrew Bynum.

I suppose Houston is trying to blow up their roster, tank the season, snuggle in for a lottery pick and build from the ground up. Still, four players for one sounds lopsided before you even look at the names of the players!

Pao Gasol's playing style is not unlike that of Luis Scola. I'm not sure Pao is that much better to give away three more pieces, including Kevin Martin, one of the deadliest shooters in the NBA.

The Lakers didn't necessarily make themselves that much better with this move alone. One would have to assume that there are more moves to be made. the Chris Paul/Kobe Bryant dynamic has the potential to be historic, but this move leaves L.A. dangerously thin at center and at power forward.

They should know as well as anyone that you can't rely on Andrew Bynum to stay healthy. You can't even rely on him not to clothesline five-foot point guards in mid-air and storm off the court half naked.

I would still put L.A. in the mix for Dwight Howard but they don't have too many valuable pieces left to offer other than Bynum. Definitely watch for the Lakers to make a few more moves before the season starts. Now that the ball is rolling in free agency, they won't want to be left behind.

That leaves New Orleans who, given their circumstances, did a lot of good for themselves with this move. They knew Paul was leaving and, like Denver with Carmelo Anthony last season, made a proactive move rather than a reactive one (see: Cleveland Cavaliers).

How does New Orleans' roster look now? Pretty darn good. A core group of Emeka Okafor, Luis Scola, Lamar Odom, David West (might not stay, still good without him) Kevin Martin, Trevor Ariza and Jerrett Jack is one you can win more than a few ball games with. The bench looks a little bare but there are plenty of role-player guys to pick up in the market. The Hornets have a ton of cap space to work with.

New Orleans is the big winner at this point, but it will be interesting to see what the Lakers do from here. As for Houston, we might not hear from them until they are excitedly waiving numbered ping pong balls in the air come draft time next year.