In 2011 there was one of those moments of uncontrollable conversation in the NBA around a market movement. Specifically, one that did not occur because the League itself vetoed it from its headquarters. The agreed arrival of Chris Paul to the Lakers through a three-way exchange he was able to change the course of events, pairing up with Kobe Bryant in a high-carat foreign alliance, but we won’t know because it never happened. Years later, details of what happened behind the scenes are still being revealed so that the NBA decided to veto that agreement.
To put in situation: Lakers, Rockets y Hornets (the franchise that is known today as the Pelicans, not the Charlotte team) were putting on the table an agreement whereby Pau Gasol would go to the Rockets, Chris Paul would go to the Lakers and other players like Lamar would enter the agreement Odom, Luis Scola, Eric Gordon, Goran Dragic, Kevin Martin, Chris Kaman or Al-Farouq Aminu, all relevant; George Shinn He had stated that, as the owner of the Hornets, he wanted to sell the franchise and the League was forced to buy the franchise so that its value did not fall to unrecoverable levels and so that one of the potential buyers, Larry Ellison, the franchise will not be taken to San José, since there are enough teams in the state of California.
David Stern was the commissioner during those years and was named as responsible for bringing down the far-reaching operation. In a podcast recorded some time before his death in 2020, he wanted to target Mitch Kupchak, the Lakers GM for that transfer, arguing that he did not want to put Kyle Lowry or that he had already placed Lamar Odom on another team. Now Stu Jackson, a League executive for matters like that, disdains him in an interview with Andrew Greif (Los Angeles Times):
“He was the one delegating me to do those things, having been a former GM. I explained the following to David. I believed that the Lamar Odom, Kevin Martin, Luis Scola and Goran Dragic package was going to put the Hornets in a position in the one who would reach the ‘playoffs’ but without a chance to compete for the championship. In other words: I believed in Monty Williams, it seems to me that he could have taken the boys to the ‘playoffs’ and had the fans happy but maintaining a mediocre level. A mediocre team is not attractive to a potential buyer. They want less money spent on salaries and put their stamp on it, and making this transfer made the franchise less attractive to a potential new owner. And, to my surprise , David got the idea right and accepted it. He was the one who later vetoed the decision by not giving it approval “
David Stern acted under these and other influences, such as the email from Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert asking that such a trade be voted on by others at a meeting. Finally the whole network was destroyed and the Lakers fumed in the following days and years for what they believed an unfavorable treatment on the part of the commissioner.
Chris Paul ended up a little later with the other Los Angeles team, the Clippers. Lamar Odom, almost immediately on the Dallas Mavericks. The one who held out a little longer was Pau Gasol, who in the summer of 2014 did change his outfit to go to the Chicago Bulls. Kobe Bryant had to endure with a loose squad until his retirement, in that April 2016 in which with 60 points he crushed the Jazz on his last day.
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