The Los Angeles Lakers will not receive any breaks from other NBA owners when it comes to the tampering charges brought against them by the Indiana Pacers.
The Los Angeles Lakers entered the 2011-12 NBA season with a bitter taste in their mouths, swept out of the playoffs by the eventual champions, the Dallas Mavericks. Leaving an attempt at another three-peat incomplete, the Phil Jackson-less Lakers looked to enter the upcoming year retooled, now led by coach Mike Brown.
Jim Buss, the Lakers Vice-President of Basketball Operations at the time, and former General Manager Mitch Kupchak proposed a deal with the New Orleans Hornets to acquire Chris Paul in exchange for Lamar Odom while dealing Pau Gasol to the Houston Rockets to finalize the three-team deal.
Shortly after, former NBA Commissioner and acting owner of the New Orleans Hornets, David Stern, vetoed that deal stating the Hornets were better off retaining Paul. Paul would eventually be traded to one of the Lakers biggest rivals and Staples Center co-tenants, the Los Angeles Clippers.
That particular moment in Lakers history will be seen in infamy, never to be forgotten. Seven seasons later, the Lakers find themselves in yet another predicament that can possibly stall their pathway to supremacy.
We take an in-depth look at the recent tampering charges filed against the Lakers by the Indiana Pacers and the nixed Paul trade, looking at the similarities between the two events and how this one could impact the franchise today.