Lakers end Paul trade talks, ship Odom to Mavs
The NBA has taken complete control of the Hornets front office and left general manager Dell Demps and coach Monty Williams without a deal that they wanted to make for Paul. The Hornets have been left in an impossible predicament by commissioner David Stern, who has positioned himself as basketball czar of the Hornets.
In his desire to keep the All-Star point guard on the roster to maximize the league’s selling price of the team to potential owners, Stern has shot down two deals to send Paul to the Lakers. Now, teams are leery of entering into trade talks for Paul with the Hornets basketball executives, and this could collectively cripple the franchise’s ability to get maximum value for Paul.
The Hornets front office and coaching staff is beyond devastated over this deal falling apart on Saturday night. They’re three days into training camp, and they don’t have a legitimate NBA team to put on the floor.
As a rival league executive told Yahoo! Sports on Saturday night about the possibility of getting involved in the derby for Paul now: “My initial reaction is, ‘Who wants to go through that headache with the NBA playing God?’ You want to do a deal. New Orleans’ front office wants to do a deal. And the third party – the NBA – says you can do it? Should I call Stern and see if they’re going to waive Patrick Ewing Jr., since he’s only partially guaranteed? ” - http://sports.yahoo.com
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