One of the biggest what-ifs in NBA history came back in 2011 when Chris Paul was set to be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in a three-team deal to team up with Kobe Bryant.
Paul’s team, the New Orleans Hornets, however, was owned by the NBA at the time, and Commissioner David Stern made the decision to veto the trade. It remains a controversial decision to this day and Paul recently spoke about his failed move to the Lakers on The Pivot podcast.
“It’s crazy how all that stuff went down, man,” Paul said. “How the GM called, me and Kobe got on the phone, we talked. A phone call came through to let us know that the trade was nixed… We thought the trade was happening, it didn’t. Me and Kob we got on the phone. Kob is just special… Me and Kob was just wired the same. His talent was outrageous but when played against each other, we was about to fight just about every time just because we was both on the same energy… I hate that that opportunity didn’t get to happen, because especially at that point in my career, I always knew how good Kobe was even at catch-and-shoot, but he’s never got the chance to show that part of his game. Had we got a chance to play together, I think it could have been fun.”
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The trade was meant to send Paul to the Lakers and Pau Gasol to the Houston Rockets, with the Hornets getting Lamar Odom, Luis Scola, Kevin Martin, Goran Dragic, and a first-round pick. Stern clearly wasn’t a fan of the trade and to the dismay of Paul and the Lakers, nixed it.
The Aftermath Of The Vetoed Trade
Less than a week after this trade was nixed, Paul was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers and he’d go on to rejuvenate the franchise. In each of his five full seasons, they won at least 50 games but were never able to break through and win the title.
Paul’s search for that elusive title continues to this day, after suffering heartbreaks with the Rockets and the Phoenix Suns in the last few seasons. Had he ended up on the Lakers, he might have a championship to his name today.
As for the Lakers, they scrambled to acquire Steve Nash in 2012, but he was well past his best by that point and was injured for much of his time with the team. 2012 would also be the last time the Lakers won a playoff series in the Bryant era, as they went on to have arguably the worst stretch in franchise history.
If it was Paul instead of Nash at point guard, they certainly would have been a whole lot better and Kobe wouldn’t have been forced to play the heavy minutes which led to his nightmarish injury-riddled campaigns in his last few seasons in the NBA. A healthy Bryant with Paul could have formed one of the best backcourts in the league for a few seasons and who knows what they could have achieved together.
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