NBA Rumors: Clippers Should Be Willing to Pay Insane Asking Price for Chris Paul

It's clear now that Chris Paul is not going to the Lakers, but he might still end up playing basketball in Los Angeles this season and beyond.

He would do so for the Clippers, the team otherwise known as LA's "other" team.

According to a report from Marc Stein and Chris Broussard of ESPN.com, playing for the Clippers is actually Paul's preference if he can't play for either the Lakers or the New York Knicks. Apparently, he is attracted to the idea of playing alongside Blake Griffin, which is understandable.

There are naturally a lot of strings attached to the idea of Paul being traded by the NBA-owned New Orleans Hornets to the Clippers. The Clippers know that CP3 likely won't sign an extension, but they want him to at least pick up the 2012-2013 option in his contract so his free agency would be delayed by a year.

Basically, the Clippers want to make sure they have Paul for at least two seasons before he becomes a free agent, at which point he would demand top dollar that the Clippers may not be willing and/or able to pay.

It's going to cost the Clippers enough to get Paul in the first place. Per Stein and Broussard, a source close to the situation claims the Hornets were looking to get Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman, Eric Bledsoe, Al-Farouq Aminu and at least two future first-round picks in exchange for Paul.

According to a report from Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times, though, the Clippers have managed to level things out a little. As of Sunday night, the Clippers and Hornets had a deal in place that would send Kaman, Bledsoe, Aminu and an unprotected 2012 first-round draft pick to New Orleans.

Though Gordon's name is absent from the proposed deal, it's still a "give me all you got and then some" trade on the part of the Hornets. Considering the depth of the 2012 draft, it may be even more lopsided than the deal they made with the Lakers and Houston Rockets last Thursday that was killed by David Stern.

It is therefore worth noting that the NBA will have to approve this deal, and Clippers owner Donald Sterling also still has to sign off on it.

But if the Sterling is tired of his team being referred to as LA's other team, it's a price he should be willing to play.

There's no denying that the deal would strip the Clippers of several key bench players, which would be a problem seeing as how you can't exactly have five guys play every minute in every game. Even in a shortened season you gotta have a bench, and the Clippers would have half a bench if they make this deal.

Yet, if the Clippers make this deal then they're looking at a starting five of Chris Paul, Eric Gordon, Caron Butler, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.

That's a pretty good fivesome, folks. In fact, it's a fivesome that would cement the Clippers in the Western Conference hierarchy, and one that could very well lead them deep into the playoffs for the first time since, well, ever.

Is there risk? Of course there's risk. There's always risk. Injuries could kill this group, and maybe CP3 will decide he's better off going elsewhere when his (hopefully) two years are up. If so, the high-profile swap will be a crippling blow for a franchise that can ill afford a crippling blow.

But is dealing for Paul worth the risk? I believe so. The Clippers would be rolling the dice, but they would be doing so by adding arguably the best point guard in the NBA to a core that is already pretty good.

If all goes well, this is a trade that could put them over the top.

Assuming the NBA allows it to happen at all, of course.