Chris Paul to Clippers: A GIANT Misstep

Yet another Chris Paul-to-Los Angeles trade has fallen through, this time with the LA Clippers, according to ESPN. 

The Clippers were arguably offering a better package than the Lakers and Rockets, which included everything a rebuilding team needs in order to start over.  This included an expiring contract, two young talents still on rookie contracts (one of them on the cusp of being an All-Star) and a Top 10 draft pick in next year's talent-rich draft class. 

One would think this more than enough to land New Orleans' prominent point guard, Chris Paul. 

Think again. 

The league demanded that Eric Bledsoe, another young talent of the Clippers, be included in the trade.  The Clippers decided this was too much and reneged on the deal.  But truthfully, it never should have gotten to this point.

A closer look at the trade market reveals a few things.  One, the Clippers by far have the best package to offer in a straight-up, two-team deal.  Two, the league is under tremendous pressure to make a deal sooner than later, with a pending lawsuit coming from the union and training camp currently underway. 

It's defensible for Stern to have rejected the Lakers/Rockets trade if your claim is that you need young talent and picks in order to sell the team going forward—not established starters all close to 30 years old. 

But that's exactly what they were getting from the Clips. 

A third factor is that whichever team trades for Paul, it will have to be a team with whom he accepts to do some sort of long-term agreement in order to get back a decent trade offer. 

With these three factors combined, the Clippers should have had this trade in the bag, right? 

Wrong. 

Clipper management is starting to show their true colors and are making easy situations ridiculously hard.  With such an advantageous position, the Clippers should have lowballed the Hornets, offering them Chris Kaman's expiring contract, the Minnesota pick, Aminu and Bledsoe and possibly Ryan Gomes or Randy Foye. 

That offer alone would have been better than one any other team could muster up.  Remember, you can only consider teams that Paul would sign an extension with as possible trade partners.  That excludes the Warriors.  The Mavericks don't have anything to trade.  The Nets already have Williams.  The Knicks have nothing better than Amare and junk and as we mentioned before, the Hornets want young talent and picks. 

The Lakers could get back in the running, but after losing Lamar, they're committed to the Dwight Howard sweepstakes.  So that just leaves the Clippers.

Knowing all this, here's where the Clips, for lack of a better word, got "dumb."  Rumored reports are they offered Eric Gordon. 

This was a critical mistake. 

When dealing in negotiations, you give a little and you take a little, but when doing so, it's always important to know what the trade partner WANTS and what they NEED.  But as soon as you show that you're willing to give them what they WANT versus only what they NEED, you're instantly playing defense in the negotiating. 

Of course, the league WANTS Eric Gordon in the deal, but they NEED the package mentioned earlier.  By conceding Eric Gordon, you immediately gave the league the upper hand, especially intelligent negotiators like Adam Silver and David Stern. 

Oops. 

You also pissed off one Eric Gordon at a time when he needs to consider signing an extension. 

Double oops. 

After having offered Kaman, Aminu, Gordon and Minnesota's pick, it's only natural that the league would go after including Bledsoe as well.  Smart as the league is, they know that the minute Eric Gordon finds out he was included in the offer, he probably won't want to sign extension, should the deal not go through. 

This would be a disaster for the Clippers. 

So why not demand Bledsoe, now that the Clippers have unwittingly sealed their fate?  The Clippers, realizing they were having their asses handed to them in the negotiations and were being taken advantage of considering the other options, or lack thereof, for the Hornets, decided to pull out of the trade. 

But the damage was done. 

Should Eric Gordon decide he doesn't want to sign an extension in light of his inclusion in this mess, the Clippers would be stuck with another disgruntled star they'd be forced to trade—but on a rookie salary.  Meaning they'd get lowballed around the league. 

It might also force them to jump into the Dwight Howard race in order to include Gordon in that trade. That, however, would be predicated on Dwight Howard accepting the Clippers as a team he'd commit to long-term—something he has yet to do—and then hoping to clear enough cap space for next year to sign either Paul or Deron Williams should they make it to free agency. 

This is also a road block, considering they just signed 31-year-old Caron Butler, coming off a serious knee injury (another brilliant move), to an $8 million-a-year contract.

In my opinion, the Clippers were being asked to give up too much for Chris Paul. 

Is he worth it?  Yes. 

Did the situation dictate that you give all that up?  No. 

You offer Kaman, Bledsoe, Aminu and the pick, and say take it or leave it.  If they ask for Gordon because they WANT him?  You say no.  We're providing you with what you NEED.  If you can do better elsewhere (which they can't), then do it. 

But now the Clippers are stuck in a very precarious situation at a critical period in time.  Is Eric Gordon willing to commit to a team that just offered him in a trade deal?  We just saw Lamar Odom demand to be traded in the very same scenario. 

If Gordon decides to do the same, we could see him leaving Los Angeles for another team, and rest assured, you would see Blake Griffin soon follow.