NBA Trade Rumors: Chris Paul Wants out of New Orleans, Exploring Legal Action
For a few short hours, Chris Paul seemed to be a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. Word came out from Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski that the New Orleans Hornets had agreed to trade CP3 to the Lakers for Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, and Lakers fans everywhere rejoiced.
And then David Stern stepped in and killed the deal. Per a full report from Wojnarowski, some of the other owners around the NBA were not crazy about the trade, and they asked Stern to put a stop to it.
Ultimately, though, it was Stern's call.
“In the end, David didn’t like that the players were dictating where they wanted to go, like Carmelo [Anthony] had, and he wasn’t going to let Chris Paul dictate where he wanted to go," said a source.
Right around the time the deal was killed, Paul had this to say on Twitter:
Presumably, Paul was not talking about "World of Warcraft." If so, "WoW" indeed.
But Paul didn't leave it at that. A short while later, ESPN's Chris Broussard revealed some shocking news on SportsCenter. Via ESPN.com's Marc Stein:
Not long after, ESPN's Stan Verrett passed along even more shocking news. Via ESPN's Rachel Nichols:
Add it all up, and it's clear that Paul had his heart set on being a Laker.
By extension, it is also clear that Paul would prefer not to stay in New Orleans. That much has been whispered around the rumor mill for months, but now we have more reason to believe it than ever before. The dude wants to get out so bad, he's willing to sue somebody.
Truth be told, why would Paul want to stay in New Orleans? The Hornets are in a rut, they don't have an owner, and Paul is pretty much the team's only hope. He wants to win a championship, and he's not going to do that in The Big Easy.
As such, Paul would want this trade to go through this badly. I'm not sure there's anything he can do about it, mind you, but he's obviously going to try.
I wish Paul luck in that regard. The Hornets belong to the NBA, and the NBA can do what it pleases with its property. If that means confining Paul to New Orleans, so be it.
If Stern really wanted to be dramatic, he'd arrange for Paul to wear a ball and chain this season. No doubt that would get people to come out to the arena.
