Hollywood ending at last for Chris Paul

Home > Sports > Football

print dictionary print

Hollywood ending at last for Chris Paul

LOS ANGELES - The NBA-owned New Orleans Hornets have finally reached an agreement to trade All-Star Chris Paul, six days after the league vetoed a trade that would have seen Paul join the Los Angeles Lakers.

On Wednesday, the Hornets announced they had dealt guard Paul to the Los Angeles Clippers in a deal that includes players and draft picks.

The Hornets receive guard Eric Gordon, center Chris Kaman, forward Al-Farouq Aminu and a first-round draft pick from the Clippers.

The Clippers also get two second-round draft picks.

“With this trade, we now have three additional players who were among the top eight draft picks in their respective drafts as well as our own first round pick and Minnesota’s first round pick,” New Orleans Hornets general manager Dell Demps said.

“Aminu is a young talent with a bright future, Gordon is a big-time scorer and one of the best [shooting] guards in the league and Kaman is a proven center and former All-Star. We will field a competitive team and our future looks great.”

The 26-year-old Paul is a four-time All-Star who averaged 18.7 points and 9.8 assists last season.

The trade first had to be approved by NBA Commissioner David Stern because the Hornets are owned by the league.

The trade unites six-year veteran Paul with rising star forward Blake Griffin, who averaged 22.5 points and 12.1 rebounds last season, his first as a pro.

Gordon, who averaged 22.3 points last season, turns 23 on Christmas Day.

Aminu will be entering his third season in the NBA, while the seven-foot Kaman, 29, is an eight-year veteran who averaged 12.4 points and seven rebounds last season.

“We wanted to make sure that we got the best possible deal for a player of Chris’ caliber, and we feel great about the outcome,” said Jac Sperling, who Stern appointed as the Hornets’ governor after the league purchased the team a year ago.

“We feel our future looks very bright. We want to thank Chris Paul, an extraordinary person who contributed so greatly to our basketball team and our community. We wish him the best of luck.”

Demps almost completed a three-team deal last Thursday that would have seen Paul go to the Lakers. The Lakers would have shipped Lamar Odom to the Hornets and Pau Gasol to Houston.


AFP
Log in to Twitter or Facebook account to connect
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
help-image Social comment?
s
lock icon

To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.

Standards Board Policy (0/250자)