NBA Trade Rumors: Lakers Not Giving Up on Chris Paul or Other Blockbuster Deals

The NBA won't give Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers or the Los Angeles Clippers. 

The Magic are refusing to listen to trade offers for Dwight Howard.

But the Lakers aren't giving up hope. Not yet at least, and with the season less than two weeks away they still have optimism about adding another star player.

Kevin Ding, an NBA columnist for the Orange County Register, tweeted:

How long will this optimism last though?

The longer things go on the more intriguing it becomes. The New Orleans Hornets already saw David West walk away for nothing and stand to have no building blocks left if Paul joins him next summer.

CP3 respects his city and teammates, but he wants to go to a team that will be able to contend for NBA titles. The league, which currently owns the Hornets, has made it apparent that they are willing to force CP3 into free agency at summer's end if they don't get the deal they want in return and will not let him dictate where he goes.

The Lakers have already traded away one major trade chip in Lamar Odom, but still hold Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum.

As for the Magic, they weathered the "storm" of Howard demanding a trade and claim they have no plans to trade the superstar center.

Howard was rebuffed a bit by the situation and then took a softer line on his trade demand saying, "If it is meant for me to stay here, I'll stay", according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.

None of this bodes well for the Lakers.

In reality, the Lakers only have one move they must make: a trade for Howard. The jettisoning of Odom cannot be justified without it.

They obviously want to stay in on the Paul sweepstakes, but they've already have one deal turned down that would've helped both clubs.

The Howard situation is more in their favor. They have young center they can send back and there hasn't been a botched situation.

Expect the Lakers to stay involved with everything going forward.