Chris Paul: Why David Stern Needed to Veto His Trade to the Lakers

The NBA is changing rapidly. Star players no longer feel the need to stay loyal to the team that drafted them, but instead will do whatever it takes to put themselves in the best situation.

Players today feel championships are a right, instead of something that is earned. In today’s league, stars believe championships are won by the names on the back of the jersey instead of on the front.

Over the past few seasons, the way star players with expiring contracts have bullied their way to new teams has been disgusting to watch. They publicly threaten to leave at the end of the season and have the arrogance to tell their team where they want to be traded.

The reality of the situation is that star players work for their team and not the other way around. If Chris Paul wants to sign with another team when he becomes a free agent, I’m fine with that. He deserves the opportunity to make the most money possible and put himself in a position to win. However, when you threaten your current team and give them an ultimatum, that’s when the line is crossed.

The deal that was vetoed by commissioner David Stern in my mind was a fair one. In my opinion the Lakers may have even given up to much for Chris Paul, but they would have received an All-Star point guard while the Hornets received probably their best package for Paul.

The reason David Stern needed to cancel this deal far exceeds the fairness of it.  

Stern needed to reject the deal because he needs to put a stop to star players forcing their teams to trade them. Players like Chris Paul and Dwight Howard are giving their teams a list of places they would like to be traded to and if they aren’t, they threaten their team by saying they’ll leave when they become a free agent.

What happened to playing out your contract?

Free agency is something that is earned, and players today need to realize they signed a contract with their team and they are obligated to honor that deal.

Chris Paul is now saying he is not going to attend the Hornets training camp that begins today. I know they won’t do this because they want to get value for him, but I hope the Hornets hold on to Paul for the entire season and make him sit on the bench for every single game.

There was one thing Paul did that really angered me.

When rumors were swarming that the Celtics were trying to acquire Paul, he quickly said he would not sign a long-term deal with Boston in an attempt to squash the trade.

It’s not Paul’s choice to decide where he gets traded, it’s the Hornets choice.

The organization should look for the best deal possible and Paul’s personal preference should not matter. If Paul wants to choose what team to go to, he should wait til the end of the season when he’s a free agent, instead of asking to be traded.

The league needs more players like Jordan, Bird and Magic who were loyal to their team and wanted to compete against other star players instead of joining them. Back then the league had much more depth and was far more competitive. In a few years, there will be about five or six dominate teams with the rest being mediocre at best.