The Chris Paul Controversy Isn’t Going Away Any Time Soon

The ink hasn’t even dried on the NBA’s new labor agreement and we already have our first controversy of the season. Thursday the Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans Hornets and Houston Rockets announced a three-way trade that would have sent Chris Paul to L.A. and Pau Gasol to Houston. The Hornets would have received Lamar Odom, Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Goran Dragic and a 2012 first-round draft pick in the deal but the NBA canceled the trade hours after it was announced yesterday.

There are a lot of different aspects about this trade/non-trade that stinks to high heaven to me. As a fan I was disgusted to see the initial trade of Paul to L.A. because I feel the Lakers constantly get the better of major trades. It’s collusion that the Lakers get Shaquille O’Neal and win three rings, then the Memphis Grizzlies hand them Pau Gasol who helps them get two more rings and now the Hornets, who are owned by the league, try to  give Kobe Bryant another weapon to help him pass “his Airness” in rings.

I was set to scream conspiracy until the league nixed the trade. Honestly, I was only concerned with how it seemed that the league was favoring Kobe and the Lakers who by the way have the highest payroll in the NBA. If approved this trade would have been a definite black eye for the league.

Two issues would have come up constantly if this trade would have gone through. One was the issue of smaller markets being able to compete with the larger markets. That was one of the issues that was supposed to have been resolved with the new CBA so it would have been ironic if the first trade of the season would have moved one of the league’s biggest and most coveted stars from a small market to its largest market.

There’s also the payroll issue that I mentioned earlier. The league bought the Hornets from their owner last season so any moves the Hornets make is a direct reflection of the league and how it operates. For the league to favor the team that has the highest payroll by giving them another top notch player just reeks of hypocrisy.

Although it’s not as much of an issue as the previous two issues I discussed, the issue that ticks me off so much as a fan is a little something I call the Michael Jordan argument. Kobe is a really good player but he’s no Jordan. To keep letting teams send him players to play with isn’t cool. He’s not the guy I believe who should surpass Michael in rings. If he does it on his own, fine, but don’t keep “giving” him rings by directing the top players his way.

Allowing the trade to go through would have been a travesty but canceling the trade seems to be creating even more of a public relations nightmare than if they would have allowed it to go through. Every owner of the other 29 teams in the league is a part owner of the Hornets and it is believed that many of them opposed this trade. From a competitiveness stand point I wouldn’t blame them if this ended up being the case. If I am another team with championship aspirations I wouldn’t want to see this trade go through either.

Many people believe this was a fair trade though which is why there is such an uproar arising concerning the league’s cancelation of this trade. Especially when you consider the position this puts the Hornets in. Paul has his mind set to leave so the Hornets were looking to at least get something in return for him rather than get nothing and let him leave when he becomes a free agent this summer.

I still think that the league was right to cancel the trade though because they are trying to sell the team. The Hornets are a much more attractive product with Paul there. Now once somebody buys the team they have to deal with the Chris Paul issue themselves. If a new owner wants this trade to go through then the league should not stop it from happening a second time. At least give that person the ability to decide how they want to handle that situation though.

This is not the last we will hear about this situation though. Paul has already started to pursue avenues where he can fight the league’s cancelation of this trade. Paul was looking forward to the prospect of playing in L.A. and it doesn’t look like he is giving up on the prospect of this trade eventually going through. This situation may end up in arbitration before the league has a chance to sell the Hornets.

Regardless of what happens you can expect to see CP3 in another jersey at some point this season. Sorry to be the bearer of bad new Hornets’ fans but Paul leaving New Orleans is a done deal. The only question is will he be wearing purple and gold or some other colors?

 Roosevelt Hall is an NBA Blogger for Pick And Fade. He can be contacted at RHall_TPFB@Yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @rhall_tpfb.