This is going to be one crazy day.
And the craziness began just after midnight, EST, when Yahoo Sports published an e-mail it said was sent from Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert to commissioner David Stern, deputy commissioner Adam Silver and some other owners urging him to shoot down the three-team trade that would have sent Chris Paul from the New Orleans Hornets to the Los Angeles Lakers .
Curiously, the Yahoo report is unbylined. (It also does not mention whether it was written in Comic Sans font.)
Here is the text of the e-mail:
“Commissioner, It would be a travesty to allow the Lakers to acquire Chris Paul in the apparent trade being discussed. This trade should go to a vote of the 29 owners of the Hornets. Over the next three seasons this deal would save the Lakers approximately $20 million in salaries and approximately $21 million in luxury taxes. That $21 million goes to non-taxpaying teams and to fund revenue sharing. I cannot remember ever seeing a trade where a team got by far the best player in the trade and saved over $40 million in the process. And it doesn’t appear that they would give up any draft picks, which might allow to later make a trade for Dwight Howard. (They would also get a large trade exception that would help them improve their team and/or eventually trade for Howard.) When the Lakers got Pau Gasol (at the time considered an extremely lopsided trade) they took on tens of millions in additional salary and luxury tax and they gave up a number of prospects (one in Marc Gasolwho may become a max-salary player). I just don’t see how we can allow this trade to happen. I know the vast majority of owners feel the same way that I do. When will we just change the name of 25 of the 30 teams to the Washington Generals? Please advise…. Dan G.
“Over the next three seasons this deal would save the Lakers approximately $20 million in salaries and approximately $21 million in luxury taxes. That $21 million goes to non-taxpaying teams and to fund revenue sharing.
I cannot remember ever seeing a trade where a team got by far the best player in the trade and saved over $40 million in the process. And it doesn’t appear that they would give up any draft picks, which might allow to later make a trade for Dwight Howard.”
Dan Gilbert is crazy… but this makes sense. I can see why the league can site that the deal is not in the best interest of the NBA. With that said, David Stern lost his mind by vetoing this deal.
Yikes.
So Dan, I guess it wasn’t unfair when you traded Ben Wallace and Pavlovic for Shaq? Or Illgauskas for Jamison and then resigned Illgausakas after the Wizards cut him?
Gilbert is such a hypocrite
People in the major markets likely do not like Gilbert, but he is an advocate for the small-market teams and he does make sense as a businessman. The Hornets are OWNED by the League.
However, CP3 is going to leave one way or another, and New Orleans should get an up and coming prospect like Curry or Gordon.
Just stinks for all players involved who were basically told ‘we do not want you anymore’ and are now like ‘uh, oh, hey, welcome back.’ OOPS.
Chris Paul is the best player in that trade, but Pao Gasol is not far behind him. In fact, take away the final 2 months of last season, and Gasol was easily the second best big man in the NBA. Odom, too, is an integral part of that Laker team, and NO would have hauled in a young dynamic semi star in Kevin Martin as part of the package. Not sure if the Lakers could have gotten Howard, for Bynum then, as DW12 had already requested trade to the Nets prior, and NJ seem to be able to send Orl a deeper package anyway than LA could have post trade…..all teams would have made out pretty well in the trade, while taking on some risk of not making out well….which seems like the perfect trade actually, so Gilbert and the NBA seem just wrong here.