Chris Paul requests trade to Knicks

[Andrew]

Report by Woj and Spears.

Chris Paul’s agent informed New Orleans Hornets officials on Wednesday that his client will not sign a contract extension and wants to be traded to the New York Knicks, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

As soon as the NBA lifts its lockout restrictions, Hornets general manager Dell Demps wants to meet with Paul and hear that directive from him.

Nevertheless, the prospects of the Hornets executing a trade with the Knicks appear to be dim, if not impossible. The Knicks simply don’t have the trade assets that come close to meeting New Orleans’ criteria for a deal. Demps has been listening to overtures from teams around the league, and has been actively working under the assumption that Paul would reject a contract extension.

So much for the lockout cutting down on situations like The Decision and last season's "Melo-drama". Nothing's happened yet or indeed can happen just yet and as the report notes the Knicks are a little light on trade assets they'd be willing to give up, but I wouldn't rule it out. If he won't sign an extension then the chances of the Hornets making a deal just to avoid losing him for nothing surely increases substantially as the season goes on.

Teaming Paul up with Amar'e and Melo offers no guarantees - LeBron, Wade and Bosh are a superior trio and they were taken down by the Mavericks' superior team effort - but I have to believe it would make the Knicks a force in the East, perhaps a contender for the Conference Finals at least.

[shadowgrin]

Chris Paul why did you become an asshole.

[Kenny]

They mightn't be as talented individually, but I like them more as a trio. You have one definitive guy to handle the point (as opposed to two plus a washed up point guard), a great wing player and a strong inside presence.

[NovU]

Chris Paul why did you become an asshole.

Lebron?

The new trio will not be better than Miami's just because of Melo in the mix. But Amare and Paul will be probably the best one two punch in the league instantly, if you don't count Wade - Lebron as a duo but a trio with Bosh.

[jonthefon]

Do the Knicks actually have any assets which the Hornets would accept (over the choice of just keeping him for one last squirt of playoff revenue)?

[RedPhazon8]

I wanted the Clippers to pick him up, but everyone more or less knew this was gonna happen...

[rise]

Do the Knicks actually have any assets which the Hornets would accept (over the choice of just keeping him for one last squirt of playoff revenue)?

Landry Fields and Chauncey Billups are like the only two non All-Stars on the roster worth anything at all. maybe Toney Douglas. New Orleans would have to be insane to take that kind of deal. There would either have to be a three or four team deal (preferably with a team trying to give up a solid player for luxury tax relief or something), or have the Knicks give up every draft pick of theirs for the next 15 years or so.

I wanted the Clippers to pick him up, but everyone more or less knew this was gonna happen...

lol I wanted the Bobcats.


I still don't like the Amar'e-Melo combo, just because they are too similar and really, all they do is score. Neither defends at a high level on a regular basis. I like the idea of just Chris Paul and Amar'e running the show with a strong I mean, not terrible supporting cast. I know the whole point of Paul wanting to go to NY is to form the trio with STAT and Melo, but a Paul for Melo trade would be the best thing for both teams IMO. The Knicks would gain the cap space needed to sign a decent center (Nazr Mohammed at the very least???), and maybe start building a bench not comprised of five or more D-League-worthy scrubs.[quote="RedPhazon8"]

[_Steve_]

Knicks don't have time to gamble with D-League players. They need instant success!
Giving up Melo would put the Knicks in about the same situation, the Suns were in before Amare left: good team but without any realistic chances of winning a title.
The Knicks were pretty much a non factor in the east for almost a decade.
I don't think they're patient enough for the next rebuilding process...

[bowdown]

Why the fuck do Hornets have to be his bitch and ship him to where the fuck he wants? They should trade him to where they can get the best assets in return from. Or am I missing something? What the fuck is this shit? Why would I jeopardize my future for a player who is leaving my team? Why would a team do this trade being forced by a player already leaving their organization? Does he have a no trade clause or something that he can apply if they try to ship him somewhere other than NY? After then maybe he will bolt as UFA and leave Hornets with nothing in return?

[rise]

Knicks don't have time to gamble with D-League players. They need instant success!

I meant that their supporting cast is really shitty and could compete fairly evenly with D-League teams.

Giving up Melo would put the Knicks in about the same situation, the Suns were in before Amare left: good team but without any realistic chances of winning a title.

They had a pretty legit chance of winning. They made it to the WCF and really put up a fight against the lakers/

Why the fuck do Hornets have to be his bitch and ship him to where the fuck he wants? They should trade him to where they can get the best assets in return from. Or am I missing something? What the fuck is this shit? Why would I jeopardize my future for a player who is leaving my team? Why would a team do this trade being forced by a player already leaving their organization? Does he have a no trade clause or something that he can apply if they try to ship him somewhere other than NY? After then maybe he will bolt as UFA and leave Hornets with nothing in return?

Because no team in their right mind will trade so many solid players for a guy who is just going to bolt for NY at the end of the season. I thought the Knicks were stupid to trade for Melo because they traded away their entire team minus STAT and Fields for Melo, when they could have basically signed him in the offseason without losing Chandler, Gallo, Felton, etc. As I've mentioned too many times before, I like a great duo with a good supporting cast over a trio with a bunch of scrubs that are supposed to be a supporting cast. If it's true Paul will only sign with NY, then the only team that would trade for him is Minnesota, because David Kahn is the only person stupid enough to make such a move in the whole league. Probably trade Kevin Love, Michael Beasley, and Derrick Williams and have a Paul-Flynn-Ridnour-Rubio- whoever the fuck else is on the roster- rotation at the point.

[Andrew]

They mightn't be as talented individually, but I like them more as a trio. You have one definitive guy to handle the point (as opposed to two plus a washed up point guard), a great wing player and a strong inside presence.

That's a fair point, but Amar'e and Melo still have to figure out how to best play with one another. The addition of a point guard of Chris Paul's calibre might help out there but it's still D'Antoni's offense and a lack of defense...though again, Paul's addition could help out there a little. There's more all around talent in the Heat's trio, so I'd still call them the better three man show even if this deal does go down.

Why the fuck do Hornets have to be his bitch and ship him to where the fuck he wants? They should trade him to where they can get the best assets in return from. Or am I missing something? What the fuck is this shit? Why would I jeopardize my future for a player who is leaving my team? Why would a team do this trade being forced by a player already leaving their organization? Does he have a no trade clause or something that he can apply if they try to ship him somewhere other than NY? After then maybe he will bolt as UFA and leave Hornets with nothing in return?

They certainly don't have to do it, they can try and get the best deal for them, or keep trying to convince Paul to re-sign though the latter seems futile. As z02 said though, Paul's impending free agency and desire go to New York are red flags to anyone else who could possibly give up more to get him, since they'll be mindful of being the ones to lose him for nothing and be left to start over instead of the Hornets.

[The X]

I believe Flynn is now with Rockets, but that's beside the point.

I agree Knicks gave up too much for Melo given how much he wanted to Knicks & now they don't have flexibility to trade for Paul. He'll just have to sign as a free agent if he wants to come to NYC.

[Andrew]

At the same time though, the Knicks couldn't necessarily be sure they'd ever have a chance at getting Paul; look what happened with LeBron. Similarly, getting Melo might not have been that easy either, at the time it wasn't clear what kind of impact the lockout would have on the system. If the owners had gotten their way it might've been a bit tougher to pull that off, depending on how much money Melo would be willing to give up to sign with New York outright.

[benji]

Because no team in their right mind will trade so many solid players for a guy who is just going to bolt for NY at the end of the season.

Yeah, Chris Paul is totally going to take a 40% pay cut just to waste five years as the Knicks try to add talent around their Big Three through minimum contracts.

[Mavs4Life]

As others have said, little chance this will actually go down.

[Andrew]

For now. Desperation to move him before he walks could see the Hornets doing a very ordinary deal...unless they can bring a third team into the mix, perhaps.

[NovU]

Yeah, I doubt the trio will happen in NY especially with the new CBA.

But I would give up Melo for Paul anytime.

[Stress Fracture]

If CP3 really goes to NY, what would happen to Chauncey?

[_Steve_]

I think Billups would most likley be part of Knicks' trade package.

[Andrew]

Absolutely. Aside from his talent level, they'd also need to include him to make a deal work under the cap and he has an expiring contract, which the Hornets would likely be interested in. They could always waive him following the trade which could open up a possible return to Denver, though with Andre Miller now on board that's probably a longshot.