This mess of a trade or lack of it, as fascinating as it is, has "bush league" written all over it. Three teams agreed on a trade and the NBA--after confirming to GMs across the league that a) Demps has the authority to get deals done and b) Paul is a tradeable player--simply kills it due to pressure from the owners or for whatever bad reason.
The proposed trade looked pretty damn good for New Orleans and would have given them a chance to build a decent team even without Paul that could be interesting to their fan base and potential new owners alike.
Paul will leave New Orleans as early as next summer. By him becoming a free agent, they'll get nothing in return and probably turn into a mediocre team with even less support from an already weak market. I can hardly see how refusing this trade to go down will help the franchise in any way. Instead, it could very well make the team even less desireable to support and/or buy.
On top of that, seeing Stern basically force Paul to stay in New Orleans doesn't exactly feel right. One could argue it's an abuse of power.
Last edited by dalger; 12-09-2011 at 11:15 AM.
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