Stern on Chris Paul: “Don’t Forget Who’s Boss”

The NBA was back.  The owners and players both voted to accept the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA), with a 66-game season scheduled to start on Christmas Day.  The owners had gotten most of what they wanted financially and the players had preserved much of the freedom of movement they enjoyed in the previous CBA.  The fates of the New Jersey Nets’ Deron Williams, Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard, and New Orleans Hornets’ Chris Paul would be decided soon.  All three superstars had voiced displeasure with their current situations and were looking to be moved to the destination of their choice.

In the previous CBA, lots of small market teams were turned off by the fact that a lot of the league’s superstars were joining together to form super-teams in the country’s major markets.  While staying with one’s current team can net the player the most money, the stars were passing on the green for a chance to win a championship.  Fearing that no small-market team could ever compete under those circumstances, the owners pressed hard to put in moves to restrict the movement of superstar players, like Carmelo Anthony did last year, when he was traded from the Denver Nuggets to the New York Knicks, his preferred destination.  Anthony would have been a free agent at the end of the year, but rather than have him walk away and receive nothing for him, the Nuggets received the bulk of the Knicks roster.

But nothing can compensate for the loss of a top 10 NBA player.

So when league business started on December 9 and teams could sign and conduct trades, the Los Angeles Lakers pounced, trading part of its core in a 3-team deal with the Houston Rockets and the New Orleans Hornets to obtain Chris Paul.  The Hornets would receive veteran players, while Houston would get Pau Gasol, a man largely responsible with Kobe Bryant for bringing two titles to Los Angeles.  But then…David Stern spoke.

For “basketball reasons,” the commissioner of the NBA and the de facto owner of the New Orleans Hornets – since the league bought the team from owner George Shinn last season – disallowed the trade.  The league, still searching for an owner, was not about to give a top 5 NBA player to one of the league’s biggest markets.  Small-market owners were outraged, with Dan Gilbert, the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, a team spurned by arguably the league’s biggest star, LeBron James, writing an email to the commissioner complaining about the trade.

Basketball reasons, you say?  What?

In one fell swoop, the NBA had become the World Wrestling Federation, with David Stern playing the role of one Vincent K. McMahon.  How could the commissioner turn down a trade that GM Dell Demps had worked so hard on, which would net the Hornets 3 starters—Lamar Odom, Luis Scola, and Kevin Martin– along with draft picks and a solid backup point guard?  Basketball reasons.  Demps threatened to quit, but was talked out of it, and the basketball world was turned upside down, Chris Paul and the players’ union were threatening a collusion lawsuit, and left everyone wondering what, if anything, had been learned from the 150-day lockout.

With the Lakers trade disallowed, and Demps being pushed to the side, Stern’s underbosses Stu Jackson and Joel Litvin took over handling deals for the Hornets.  The league is looking for a buyer for the Hornets who will keep the team in New Orleans, so Jackson and Litvin were instructed to receive young talent and draft picks that would ensure that the future would be bright for the team.  The other franchise in Los Angeles, the woeful Clippers, emerged with a package of young prospects and draft picks.  But the league, I mean Hornets, wanted more.  They wanted the Clippers’ promising shooting guard in the deal, along with the first round pick of the Minnesota Timberwolves that the Clippers owned.  No deal.

Late Tuesday night, word emerged that the Lakers had reentered the talks to acquire Chris Paul.  Pure smokescreen.  The league (Hornets) had the Clippers right where they wanted them.  Imagine having one of the league’s biggest young stars, Blake Griffin, paired up with arguably its best point guard in Chris Paul?  The league could see dollar signs flashing.  Is anyone seeing the conflict of interest going on here?  WWE.

Last night, the trade was announced that would send the bulk of the Clippers young talent to New Orleans for Chris Paul.  Where the Laker trade would have allowed the Hornets to compete right now, the Clippers trade sets them up for the future.  But the Hornets need an owner right now.  If the league couldn’t find a buyer when Chris Paul was there, what makes them think they can find one now that he’s gone, traded away for young talent?

Basketball reasons.

In the end, David Stern flexed, the Clippers blinked, and he now has the league’s best point guard paired with its hottest rising star in Los Angeles, the country’s second biggest TV market no less.  Welcome to the new NBA, aka the WWE.  Dwight Howard’s up next.

Malik Shareef, Esq. is a senior sports writer with Politic365. A graduate of the University of Virginia and Washington and Lee School of Law, he now practices law in the Washington, DC area and is a certified contract advisor for the NFL. Malik's experience as a sports agent and attorney give him a unique perspective on law-related issues in sports and entertainment. Follow him on Twitter @malikshareef.

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2 Responses to Stern on Chris Paul: “Don’t Forget Who’s Boss”

1. Ronw says:

   2:34am December 16, 2011 at 2:34 am

   Great view Malik. Thanks for sharing your insight

   Reply

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