Lakers Trade Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom for Chris Paul
PRINT
Photo by Getty Images | Edit by Kam Pashai
UPDATE: 6:01PM PST: According to Yahoo Sports! Adrian Wojnarowski, “The NBA is now pushing New Orleans GM Dell Demps to pull the plug on the trade and keep Chris Paul, league sources tell Y! Sports.”
UPDATE: 6:00PM PST: According to Yahoo Sports! Adrian Wojnarowski, “NBA owners have pushed commissioner David Stern to kill the deal sending Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers, sources tell Y! Sports.”
UPDATE 5:57PM PST: According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, trade with Lakers will NOT go through Friday. “It was not immediately clear, sources said, if three-way trade involving Hornets, Lakers and Rockets is merely snagged or in jeopardy”
It appears Chris Paul will be wearing a Lakers uniform on Christmas Day.
Earlier reports had the Lakers trading Andrew Bynum, and Lamar Odom for Chris Paul.
That report was then quickly corrected. Adrian Wojnarowski from Yahoo! Sports has now reported that the Lakers have agreed to trade Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom for Chris Paul.
The Houston Rockets have jumped into the deal making it a three-team trade. Multiple reports have the Rockets receiving Pau Gasol for Luis Scola, Kevin Martin, Goran Dragic, and a draft pick.
So here is the current breakdown:
Lakers Receive: Chris Paul
Hornets Receive: Lamar Odom, Luis Scola, Kevin Martin, Goran Dragic and a Rockets draft pick
Rockets Receive: Pau Gasol
Adding Paul to the lineup automatically solves the Lakers problem at point guard as they acquire arguably the best point guard in the league.
This will no doubt give the Lakers the best backcourt in the NBA with Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant starting at the one and two on opening day.
The fact that the Lakers were able to pull this off without having to trade Andrew Bynum is quite an accomplishment. It must be noted that this leaves open the possibility of getting Dwight Howard from the Orlando Magic in exchange for Andrew Bynum.
According to sources, this deal is finalized and agreed to by all teams involved. However, it cannot be official until training camp and free-agency beings tomorrow. (Friday December 9th).
Stay tuned to LakerNation.com for updates, as this story continues to develop.
