Lakers Trade Rumors: Rockets Hold Key to Chis Paul's Future in LA

If the Los Angeles Lakers want to pair up All-Star point guard Chris Paul with future Hall-Of-Fame shooting guard Kobe Bryant via a trade, it looks as if the Houston Rockets are going to have to sweeten their end of the deal that would send players to New Orleans Hornets.

Unless you have been living under a rock, on the moon or just don't care, I am almost positive that you've heard about the rejected trade deal that saw Paul heading towards the bright lights and championship banners of LA.

It's the talk of the sports world, and for good reason.

Never before has a commissioner axed a trade that had already been announced because of an outcry from the owners, claiming that it was unfair. 

It was an unprecedented move, and it has made things very awkward not only for the teams, but for the NBA.

Commissioner David Stern comes off looking like a lunatic dictator, the owners come off looking like whiny babies, and somehow all three teams involved in this proposed trade have to face up to the players that they had apparently already gotten rid of.

It's a mess and it needs to be fixed.

According to rotoworld.com, there is still hope to see Chris Paul as a Laker, but it involves the Houston Rockets ponying up a bit more in the trade:

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Multiple sources reported that the Chris Paul trade is not dead and still being worked on, as the NBA attempts to save face following Thursday's trade veto by David Stern.

Stern is going to try to get the Rockets to give the Hornets both Courtney Lee and Patrick Patterson in an attempt to sell that Lamar Odom's age made the original deal bad. It's absurd, but that's how they'll try to package it. How this ends is anybody's guess, but we're leaning toward Paul becoming a Laker through an altered trade of some type.

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The original three team trade saw the Lakers sending Paul Gasol to the Rockets and Lamar Odom to the Hornets. The Rockets would have then sent guards Kevin Martin, Goran Dragic, forward Luis Scola and a first-round draft pick for 2012 to the Hornets.

To cap it all off, the Hornets would send Paul to the Lakers.

To be frank, I'm not sure how this trade didn't make any sense, as when objectively looked at it seems to be fair for all teams involved.

The Lakers would be getting rid of two of their biggest pieces, the Rockets would be acquiring a perennial All-Star Center, and the Hornets would be getting incredible value for a player that would just walk once he hit free agency anyhow.

Apparently that wasn't good enough for the league.

If the NBA was smart they would do everything they could to save face and get this trade done, and if that means the Rockets have to sweeten up the deal a bit, so be it.

Right now this is a travesty of epic proportions, and it needs to be fixed as soon as possible.