Chris Paul Lakers: David Stern's Decision to Nix Blockbuster Trade Bad for NBA

David Stern, you got some "splainin" to do!

The NBA commissioner must realize, deep down, that his decision, pushed by the owners as it was, to call off the blockbuster trade that would've sent Chris Paul from the league-owned New Orleans Hornets to the Los Angeles Lakers—for "basketball reasons"—was a poor one for everyone involved.

The Hornets

The Hornets never even had a puncher's chance of keeping Paul in the Big Easy, not after he already declined the team's offer to extend his contract. Had the NBA allowed the proposed trade to go through, New Orleans would've been off to a flying start in its inevitable rebuilding process.

The incoming trio of Lamar Odom, from the Lakers, and Luis Scola and Kevin Martin, from the Rockets, would've given New Orleans a solid nucleus of players to either build around or trade elsewhere for other useful pieces and draft picks.

Now, GM Dell Demps, whose phone had been ringing non-stop with teams eager to talk shop, will have to sit on his hands and simply watch as CP3 walks away and his team collapses into chaos and mediocrity.

It's not like keeping Paul for one more season makes the team any more attractive to prospective buyers of the team. The franchise's value is sure to plummet the moment CP3 takes his services elsewhere, and will only fall further if there isn't some sort of nucleus in place that's capable of winning games.

The Lakers

On the one hand, the fact that the league nixed this deal might actually be a good thing for the Lakers. They were set to give up two of the best big men in the NBA for a point guard who, tremendous a player as he is, can't exactly fill the gaping whole left behind in LA's frontcourt by Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol.

On the other hand, this is Chris Paul we're talking about. He's a once-in-a-generation-type talent and would have been the best point guard to don the Purple and Gold since Magic Johnson.

By a mile.

CP3 would've also given the Lakers, one of the NBA's marquee franchises, a superstar around which to build for the post-Kobe Bryant future. As much as legions of Laker haters might disagree, the league is much better off when teams in LA, New York and Chicago are relevant.

And it's not as though Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak would've simply stood pat once Paul was on board. Chances are, he would've then gone hard after Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic to fill out LA's championship trio and forge yet another NBA dynasty.

Of course, Kupchak still might pursue Howard, though it's tough not to wonder if Stern and the league's small-market owners would veto that, too.

For now, the Lakers will have to busy themselves consoling Odom and Gasol before they can get back to the business of winning basketball games, of which they should stil do plenty with their current roster.

The Rockets

It's easy to forget that the Rockets would've been on the verge of contending in the Western Conference had they managed to snag Pau Gasol in this deal. GM Daryl Morey had been in search of a long-term replacement for the retired Yao Ming—a role that Gasol would've filled beautifully.

Throw in a free-agent big man like Nene, and Houston might even have its eye on an NBA title.

Instead, the Rockets will likely have to settle for a first- or second-round playoff exit with the likes of Luis Scola, Kevin Martin, Chase Budinger and Kyle Lowry forming the nucleus of a good (but hardly great) team.

And, like the Lakers with Odom and Gasol, the Rockets will have to spend the first few days of training camp mending fences with Scola, Martin and Goran Dragic rather than getting ready for a grueling 66-game schedule.

David Stern

At least Stern can claim that the NBA lockout wasn't the absolute low point of his term as league commissioner.

This Chris Paul fiasco has to take the cake.

Rather than taking control of the situation and doing what was in the best interest of the league-owned Hornets, Stern capitulated to angry small-market owners like Dan Gilbert and then tried to save face by claiming the decision was made for "basketball reasons."

Really, David? Basketball reasons? You mean, like all the basketball reasons Hornets GM Dell Demps had considered before he decided to pull the trigger on this deal? The ones he and his assistants spent countless hours mulling over WITH YOUR PREVIOUS APPROVAL?!

At this point, Stern would be better off packing up his office and heading for the hills before players, big-market owners and fans come after him with torches and pitchforks. Never has Stern, a man long known for wielding an iron fist over his constituents, appeared so weak, so vulnerable.

Luckily for him, the players ratified the new collective bargaining agreement before this travesty took place.

The NBA

All told, this is a terrible move by the league in just about every regard. As far as "competitive balance" is concerned, holding up the CP3 deal makes it that much more difficult for the Rockets and the Hornets to, well, compete right away.

Small-market owners may not like the idea of super teams barnstorming around the NBA, but the fact remains, the league reached a whole new level of popularity as a result of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh teaming up in Miami. That trio polarized fans, die-hard and casual alike, while drawing in scores more if for no other reason than the sheer drama of it all.

Apparently, they don't think having another super team in a major market would benefit everyone, that Kobe and CP3 (and possibly Dwight Howard) on the same squad wouldn't boost the NBA's television ratings and give other owners cover to jack up ticket prices even more than usual when the Lakers came to town.

Or, rather, Dan Gilbert doesn't.

Because, in the end, this whole ordeal, like the lockout as a whole, wasn't about money or "competitive balance."

Rather, it was about control, about billionaires dictating terms and conditions to millionaires.

Pulling this kind of stunt now only reopens those same gaping wounds left behind by the lockout that had been closed up just hours earlier.

Except this time, the fans should have no trouble deciphering who's responsible for the bleeding.

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