Chaos in the aftermath of NBA nixing Chris Paul deal

ESPN is reporting that the three teams involved in the blockbuster trade - the Lakers, Rockets and Hornets - will appeal the league's veto. Little indication that the league will reverse course, especially considering that the NBA actually owns the Hornets, but it's only one of several subplots in the deal that never was. Among the juiciest: An email sent to NBA Commissioner David Stern by Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, in which he called the proposed trade a "travesty." From the email (via Yahoo Sports)

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 Gasol who 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.

Meanwhile, Lamar Odom, who along with Pao Gasol would have been shipped out of L.A. as part of the deal for Paul, isn't sounding happy. From the LAT:

"I guess that means I'm a Laker if the trade didn't go through," a somber Odom said in a phone interview with The Times. "I don't know what to do for the Lakers. I'm even weirded out by the league doing what they did. I don't know what to do." Odom said he thought it was "a lie" when he was first told about the trade to New Orleans. "And then it doesn't go through," Odom said. "Oh, lord. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'll pray about it."