Brandon Roy Retirement: Could Trail Blazers Make a Play at CP3?

According to Chad Ford and Mark Stein of ESPN, Brandon Roy is expected to retire within the next few days because of degenerative knees.

Roy was a tremendous player, and it is unfortunate that all of his knee injuries has forced a premature end to a once promising career, but now it is time for Portland to look forward.

Chris Paul obviously wants out of New Orleans, and it appears as the Hornets will allow that to happen, but the NBA continues to get in the way.

The NBA vetoing Paul's trade to the Lakers because the Hornets are currently owned by the league is just an excuse. All David Stern is trying to do is stop another All-Star team from forming coming right out of a lockout.

If the Hornets and Trail Blazers were to make a trade that included Paul, I highly doubt that they would veto it.

The retirement of Roy would free up a lot of salary cap room come April 28, 2012.

Roy's current contract is a five-year deal signed after the 2009-2010 season and was worth up to $82 million.

Yeah, that should be about enough room for the Blazers to try to get Paul.

Paul's contract is set to expire after this season, and with Roy's contract being terminated around April 28th, that is perfect timing for an option at resigning CP3.

Portland has the depth that New Orleans would need to overcome losing their star player, and let's be honest: with Paul, the Trail Blazers have a shot at making a title run.

The trade scenario I see playing out is the Blazers giving up Gerald Wallace, Raymond Felton and a draft pick next year in return for the services of one of the NBA's best defensive point guards.

The Hornets would get a nice point guard and forward to start building a team around, and there isn't another All-Star team out there for me to complain about.

Everyone wins, right?