Talks between the three teams had been heating up in recent days and on Thursday afternoon the discussions finally came to a head. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports the deal breaks down as follows:
The Lakers will send Pau Gasol to the Rockets and Lamar Odom to the Hornets in return for Paul. In addition, New Orleans will also receive Luis Scola, Goran Dragic and Kevin Martin from Houston in the trade.
The pairing of Paul and Kobe Bryant means that Los Angeles will now boast one of the most dynamic backcourts in NBA history. Yet even with the addition of CP3 finalized many are still asking: Are the Lakers done yet? The answer to that query may be a resounding no.
With Andrew Bynum still on the roster, officials around the league will surely speculate that at some point the young Lakers big man will be traded for another superstar: Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard.
Although Paul and Bryant might have Lakers’ fans salivating the further acquisition of Howard would bring their jaws to the floor.