Remember that whole thing last year when Carmelo Anthony refused to sign an extension with Denver, only he didn’t really come right out and say it, he just told everyone around him that it was New York or bust? Well take that and multiply it by three and you basically have what Dwight Howard, Chris Paul and Deron Williams are about to do to their teams. Except condense it into a three-to-four week stretch because it’ll all likely happen (at least for Paul and Howard) before the season begins on Christmas Day.
Consider it fun and entertaining for us spectators, gut-wrenching and headache-inducing for general managers.
Let’s assume that the Lakers somehow land Howard, and Williams is telling the truth when he says that he opted out of his contract with the Nets, only to re-sign with them for more money under the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement. That leaves us with Paul still in limbo.
Paul hasn’t expressed his intention to reject a contract extension with the Hornets, ESPN’s Chris Broussard reports, but the general belief is that Paul would like to leave New Orleans to join Amar’e Stoudemire and Anthony with the Knicks. However, the Hornets are not going to trade Paul to New York because, for one, the Knicks already sent their young prospects and picks to the Mile High City, and two, the Hornets are league-owned. The league is not going to hand over Paul to the Knicks for the holidays when they just made a big deal about maintaining “competitive balance” between both small and large market teams.
Paul is either going to have to wait until the summer of 2012 to sign with New York, become a rental on a contending team during a shortened 66-game season, or settle for getting traded and subsequently sign an extension with his new team. So New York may be out (for now), the Celtics were players but don’t have the star-power to sign Paul long term, the Lakers have come up, the Nets may still be in the hunt, but all that really leaves him with is one viable option–wait for it—the Clippers.
It’s simple. Los Angeles. Bright lights, big city, beautiful weather, a plethora of Kardashians. All the things a 20-something superstar would want and much more. Plus, the Clippers have youth, athleticism and tantalizing draft picks to offer in exchange for Paul. Exactly what the Hornets need to fill their laundry-list of needs.
Next Page: How could the Clippers land Paul?
Now one thing the Lakers can do that the Clippers more than likely can’t is get Chris Paul as a free agent. I mean, the Clippers can, but they can’t—it’s complicated. The Clippers can have their fun with Griffin now, but they’ll always be second-best to the 16-time champion Lakers. Like everything else in tinsel-town, the bandwagon is short term. Paul knows this so there’s little incentive for him to sign with the Clippers next year. The Lakers can wait for Paul to become a free agent, but they won’t because of the following:
1) They don’t have the cap room to sign Paul anyways.
2) Derek Fisher will be the starting point guard until he’s 45.
3) Although we can only speculate what offense Mike Brown will run, we can at least suspect that Paul’s style won’t be that great a fit because if it were, you would be hearing about Paul to the Lakers every five seconds instead of Dwight Howard to the Lakers.
As much as Laker fans would love to get Paul under the Staples Center marquee next to Kobe and Gasol or whoever, it doesn’t look like it’ll be their number one priority. The Clippers are a much more enticing choice to the Hornets, who will want to get a core of young guys and maybe some veterans they can take off the books quickly in exchange for Paul.
Consider these trade scenario’s to be in ascending order—as in ascending from most likely to not in your lifetime.
Chris Paul, Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza to the Clippers; Eric Bledsoe, DeAndre Jordan, Chris Kaman and Minnesota’s unprotected 2012 first-round pick to the Hornets.
Not only is this deal totally do-able, but it improves the blueprint of both teams. The Hornets will get some youth, older guys who can still play and are only signed to one-year deals, and the Timberwolves unprotected first round pick from next year’s draft. That pick alone could defer the Hornets just enough from trying to include Eric Gordon in a potential trade, a guy the Clippers definitely don’t want to trade.
In exchange for all that, the Clippers get a dream team of Griffin, Gordon and Paul. So they lose DeAndre Jordan, but they’re getting Paul on lock, and considering that he has single-handedly taken the Hornets to the playoffs three-straight years, that pretty much guarantees the Clippers a spot in the playoffs every year until the next CBA gets renewed.
There’s a catch of course. The only way this gets derailed is if the Clippers can’t get the assurance that Paul will sign an extension. Consider this a deal-breaker for any potential trade the Clippers make.
Chris Paul and Emeka Okafur to the Clippers; Andrew Bynum, Chris Kaman, Eric Bledsoe and Minnesota’s 2012 first round pick to the Hornets; Blake Griffin and Trevor Ariza to the Lakers.
Picture this. Blake Griffin suits up for the Lakers and as he’s introduced, jumps over a Fiat and lands on Jennifer Lopez’s lap. The Lakers get that jolt of athleticism they need, the Hornets get a franchise big man to lure a potential owner, and the Clippers get Chris Paul and will still be far enough under the cap to sign Howard. Would never happen, but that was fun right? No, okay moving on.
Next Page: The Highly Unlikely Mega-Trade
If you’re the Clippers, you probably don’t trade Eric Gordon. But since we’re already on the subject of unlikely scenarios and simply because Clipper fans, perhaps more than others—are dreamers—this seems fitting.
The three-team, never-gonna-happen mega deal.
Dwight Howard and Chris Paul to the Clippers; Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman and Trevor Ariza to the Magic; Hedu Turkoglu, Eric Bledsoe, DeAndre Jordan and Minnesota’s unprotected 2012 first round pick to the Hornets.
Look, Gordon is a young and promising player. Had he not gone down with that wrist injury last February, he likely would’ve continued his quest to become the next great shooting guard, you know behind Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade. He’s still under a rookie contract, in other words, he’s there on the cheap (for now) and quite frankly, the Clippers would be foolish to let that go.
But if you could get Dwight Howard and Chris Paul to join forces with Blake Griffin, you do it. This deal is a long-shot at best and mostly because a lot of chips have to fall perfectly into place. One thing going for the Clippers is that they’re still in a prime market, despite ownership. Both teams, Orlando and New Orleans have to look at the big picture—they don’t want what happened to Cleveland to happen to their respective franchises. They already have knowledge that their superstars want to walk, so there’s an incentive to get something back in exchange for them.
The Magic are going to be in rebuilding mode upon Howard’s departure. I suspect the Magic are going to use amnesty on Gilbert Arenas, knocking his $19.3 million off the books. They’ll get Ariza, who’s still a young guy and decent defender, Kaman, who some consider a productive veteran, and finally Gordon who has all the promise and potential of being that franchise player the Magic are losing in Howard. Already dropping Arenas, to get even more under the cap the Magic will probably want to unload Hedo Turkoglu, which leads me to my next point.
The league-owned Hornets would have to agree to take on Turkoglu’s contract. As if this whole scenario wasn’t filled with land-mines, this one will probably cause the biggest explosion. Turkoglu is not a young player, he’s still tall and has range, but long gone are the days when his game made just as big a splash as his frosted highlights. But the Hornets will still get Bledsoe, Jordan (contingent on him signing an extension) and the highly coveted Minnesota unprotected first round pick of the 2012 draft.
If Chris Paul teaming up with Blake Griffin and getting the Clippers that much closer to bridging the gap between them and the Lakers in la-la-land seems like it’s too good to be true, it’s because it is. There’s a reason why the Clippers aren’t ever really in the mix to make the mega-deals. They never take the risk, and consequently, players never take a chance on them.
LeBron had the chance to play with Griffin and give his rivalry with Bryant a geographical edge, but he didn’t take it. Whether or not Chris Paul decides to bank on the Clips is anyone’s guess, but it won’t be because it’s the wrong choice. It’ll be because it’s never ever the most lucrative one.