NBA history was forever changed on December 8, 2011.
Fourteen years later, Chris Paul is back in Los Angeles as a 40-year-old approaching NBA retirement — and the Point God still hasn’t worn a uniform for the Lakers.
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Chris Paul was supposed to join Kobe Bryant but David Stern stood in the wayCredit: talksport
“Commissioner: It would be a travesty to allow the Lakers to acquire Chris Paul in the apparent trade being discussed,” Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert wrote in an email to then-NBA commissioner David Stern.
“This trade should go to a vote of the 29 owners of the Hornets.
“Over the next three seasons this deal would save the Lakers approximately $20 million in salaries and approximately $21 million in luxury taxes. That $21 million goes to non-taxpaying teams and to fund revenue sharing.
“I cannot remember ever seeing a trade where a team got by far the best player in the trade and saved over $40 million in the process.”
The blockbuster that never was
Those numbers are paltry now, and Stern’s hard veto of a proposed blockbuster trade involving the New Orleans Hornets (now the Pelicans), Houston Rockets and Lakers still doesn’t make sense 14 years later.
“Wow,” Paul tweeted in 2011.
He was supposed to pair up with Kobe Bryant in the Lakers’ backcourt, giving Los Angeles’ primary NBA team one of the best guard tandems in league history.
Pau Gasol was set to join the Rockets, replacing Yao Ming.
Meanwhile, the league-owned Hornets were set to receive Lamar Odom, Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Goran Dragic and a first-round pick.
It would have been the rare win-win-win in NBA trade history, and CP3 would have joined Bryant in their athletic primes.
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Paul has rejoined the Clippers after creating Lob City in Los AngelesCredit: Getty
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Bryant’s career tailed off after the failed Paul trade in 2011Credit: Getty
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Paul is still searching for his first NBA ring at 40-years-oldCredit: GettyCP3 and Black Mamba were peaking in 2011
Bryant was 33-years-old and averaged 27.9 points while earning All-NBA honors and finishing fourth in MVP voting during the 2011-12 campaign.
Paul was 26-years-old in 2011 and in his seventh pro season.
The 2005-06 NBA Rookie of the Year had become the face of New Orleans’ NBA franchise, but everything from Hurricane Katrina to ownership issues created long-term instability for the Hornets.
Following a tense 149-day lockout, Stern was adamant that small-market NBA teams would be better equipped to keep their homegrown stars — and receive fair market value if they were traded.
After watching Paul inspire New Orleans during a 2010-11 Western Conference first-round playoff battle, the Lakers followed up that 4-2 series win by agreeing to a blockbuster three-team trade that would wrap CP3 in purple and gold.
It was a done deal — until it wasn’t.
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“It’s not true that the owners killed the deal,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said.
“The deal was never discussed at the Board of Governors meeting and the league office declined to make the trade for basketball reasons.”
But an email from Gilbert highlighted the CP3-to-the-Lakers divide that became the talk of the league in 2011.
“Ultimately the decision rests with the league office. The final final say,” Adam Silver, now the NBA’s commissioner, said at the time.
While Paul watched his path to a potential NBA championship suddenly become blocked, other star players were caught in the middle of the stalemate.
“You don’t want to go to no place you’re not wanted,” Lamar Odom told the Los Angeles Times, after he was supposed to be sent to New Orleans.
L.A. Story, Part II
Chris Paul bio
Age: 40
College: Wake Forest
Draft: No. 4 overall in 2005 by New Orleans Hornets
Teams: Hornets, Clippers (twice), Suns, Rockets, Thunder, Warriors, Spurs
Honors: All-Star (12), All-NBA (11), All-Defense (8), NBA 75th Anniversary Team
Bryant also hurt by blocked deal
Stern didn’t just stand in the way of Paul joining the Lakers.
He also prevented Bryant from receiving an All-Star teammate and top-five MVP vote getter.
Bryant spent the next five years with the Lakers, but never again advanced past the Western Conference semifinals and failed to make the playoffs in his last three seasons.
Paul was traded a week later to the Clippers, which ignited Lob City with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, and that deal had to be approved by Stern.
He’s now a 12-time All-Star with nine All-Defensive Team selections, and career averages of 17 points, 9.2 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 2 steals.
But Paul is also on his second run with the Clippers, and currently one of the best players in NBA history to never win a championship ring.
He could have claimed his first with Bryant and the Lakers, if Stern hadn’t blocked the blockbuster and created one of the biggest what-ifs since the NBA began.
“I just don’t see how we can allow this trade to happen,” Gilbert wrote to Stern.
“I know the vast majority of owners feel the same way that I do.
“When will we just change the name of 25 of the 30 teams to the Washington Generals?”
Yet the emphasis on protecting small-market teams eventually paid off for the league.
Last season’s NBA Finals thrilled hardwood devotees with a full seven-game series between the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder.
And small-market star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander watched his regular-season and Finals MVPs be rewarded with a historic $285 million supermax contract extension.