Following the drama that resulted in last year's NBA lockout came one of the most interesting headlines to come from the revised 10-year collective bargaining agreement (to help restore competitive balance). In early December former New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul was at the height of league headlines following his interest in being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.
To Paul's dismay, his hopes of relocating to Los Angeles were temporarily put on hold by the league due to a nixed three-team deal between the Hornets, Houston Rockets, and Los Angeles Lakers. The abrupt decision didn’t bode to well with fans and players, who saw the league's involvement in the vetoed deal as biased.
"I think other owners did not want the Lakers to make significant improvements again," Kobe Bryant explained to ESPN. "We always contended as players that the lockout was really more so about the owners fighting amongst themselves, which is what you just saw [with the vetoed trade]. You got Chris Paul coming here and the other owners weren't with that, because you don't want another great player coming to L.A., and all of the sudden Los Angeles has another player that can carry them on well after I retire. So, it's more about the owners bickering amongst themselves."
Although Paul didn't get a chance to wear the Lakers traditional colors of purple and gold, he did in fact get a chance to land in Los Angeles as a Clipper, which in fact has drove more attention to L.A.'s co-tenants. During this season’s abbreviated NBA pre-season the Clippers swept the Lakers out of the two games in which they faced each other. Not to mention their current 4-2 first place start ahead of the Lakers in the Pacific division of the Western Conference.
Judging from their stellar performance some are predicting that the Clippers could possibly have three players (Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Chauncey Billups) represent the United States during this summer's Olympics in London. Only time will tell whether or not L.A.'s dynamic trio will end up across the pond.