Chris Paul was selected as a fourth overall pick by the New Orleans Pelicans (then known as the New Orleans Hornets) in the 2005 Draft and was expected to emerge as the cornerstone of the franchise. However, in 2011, the star point guard was looking for a trade, preferably to the Los Angeles Lakers, who were also willing to make a move for Paul. But that trade never materialized to fruition as then-NBA commissioner David Stern vetoed the move, much to the dismay of fans and players alike.
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In 2010, the New Orleans Hornets became the first team to be owned by the league. Former Lakers assistant coach Brian Shaw recently appeared on Paul George’s Podcast P and revealed how commissioner David Stern played an active role in blocking Chris Paul’s trade to the Lakers as the then-acting Governor for the Hornets. Brian Shaw recalled the series of events, saying, “[David] Stern was a gangster.” The NBA being the owner of the Hornets franchise allowed Stern (as the governor of the Hornets, not as NBA Commissioner) to veto the already-finalized Chris Paul trade with the Lakers.
According to Shaw, who was with the Lakers at the time, Stern was concerned about the big market teams, such as the Lakers, scooping up star players from smaller market teams, such as New Orleans. The big market teams could afford to pay the stars higher salaries, alongside the allure of different kinds of opportunities in the big market, which led to the small market teams losing their cornerstone players. The concerned deal was a three-way trade between the Lakers, the Dallas Mavericks, and the Hornets, with Lamar Odom scheduled to move to Dallas while the Lakers were also to acquire David West.
Shaw further explained the reasons behind this failed trade, “The team [Hornets] was actually being controlled by the NBA…All the other teams were complaining about how the small market teams never have a chance because these larger markets always can afford to pay the stars, and they can, so they end up losing players.” In a way, commissioner Stern ended up adhering to the requests and complaints of the smaller teams, thus preventing fans from witnessing an epic duo of Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul with the Lakers. However, he vetoed the trade as the Governor of the Hornets.
Though the involved teams tried lobbying the league to reverse their ruling, it was of no avail. On December 12 of the 2011 lockout season, the Hornets agreed on a trade for CP3 to the Los Angeles Clippers that had initially broken down in its nascent stages of negotiations. The Clippers acquired Paul and two future second-round draft Picks. At the same time, the New Orleans Hornets, in return, received Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman, Al-Farouq Aminu, and an unprotected first-round pick from the Minnesota Timberwolves, which they used to draft Austin Rivers.
Kobe Bryant had contacted Chris Paul before David Stern vetoed the trade
The failed Chris Paul trade to the Los Angeles Lakers deprived fans of an insane opportunity to watch Kobe Bryant and the star point guard play together. The Lakers players were confident of landing Paul in their team and had even contacted the All-NBA point guard when the trade was almost finalized. Paul revealed in a conversation on the Pivot podcast that Kobe Bryant contacted him before the NBA commissioner dismissed the trade.
Speaking of this lost opportunity, Paul said, “We thought the trade was happening, it didn’t. Kob is just special. And it’s different, I think I was so excited about it… Me and Kob [were] just wired the same. His talent was outrageous but when we played against each other, we [were] about to fight just about every time, ’cause we [were] both on that same energy… Had we got a chance to play together, I think it could have been fun.'”
Though Paul got traded to Los Angeles, it was to the Clippers. The All-NBA point guard played for the organization from 2011 to 2017 and helped rejuvenate the franchise as a legitimate contending team.
