Chris Paul could get traded much sooner than anticipated, playing into the hands of teams like the Los Angeles Laker or Los Angeles Clippers. According to ESPN, people in the front office of the New Orleans Hornets want Paul to agree to a contract extension before the regular season begins. If that hasn’t taken place, it has become very likely that he will get traded to another team.
This is where things are going to get very interesting, especially because the teams that most want to trade for Paul simply don’t have the assets to get it done. I reported last week how Paul wants to play for the Knicks, but that is one franchise completely devoid of tradable assets. Sure, Knicks fans would love to see Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire and Paul running up and down the court every night, but the executives would have to convince New Orleans that trading for Chauncey Billups is what they want to do.
The Lakers would have to give up some serious assets to make a trade happen, and while they do have the parts like Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom to get it done, the Hornets may not want to help out the Lakers that much. This leaves a host of second-tier teams like the Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, Atlanta Hawks and Clippers all expressing interest. The Warriors are an interesting team, because they have young assets like Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson that could give the Hornets an instant boost on offense. The trick here is convincing Paul to sign a contract extension with the team.
The Clippers are also an interesting suitor for Paul, especially because they could partner him with Blake Griffin for many years to come. That would bring a lot of excitement to Staples Center again, but the team would have to give up quite a lot of their younger players in order to get that deal done. It is starting to seem more and more likely that a deal is coming though, even if the Hornets don’t get back equal value for their All-Star point guard.
It definitely looks like Paul has no future in New Orleans, and speaking for the front office down there, the team needs to make a trade before the NBA preseason games get started. Doing that will avoid the in-season drama that the Denver Nuggets had to go through with Carmelo Anthony last season and it will allow the team to move on to that next chapter quickly. That is especially helpful if the Hornets are trading for young players that need the court time to develop over the full 2011-12 season.