3. What if the Chris Paul trade was never nixed?
Fresh off of back-to-back NBA Championships, the Los Angeles Lakers made a massive addition to continue their dominance over the NBA. Right before the lockout-shortened NBA season was set to go underway, the Lakers struck a deal for Chris Paul, sending Pau Gasol to the Houston Rockets and Lamar Odom to the Hornets along with Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Goran Dragic and a first-round pick from Houston.
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NBA Commissioner David Stern nixed the trade. The Charlotte Hornets had no owner at the time and thus were “owned” by the 29 other teams in the league. With several owners demanding the trade to be vetoed, Stren obliged and Chris Paul was eventually traded to the Los Angeles Clippers instead.
The Clippers traded Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman, Al-Farouq Aminu and an unprotected 2012 first that originally belonged to the Timberwolves. The Hornets arguably were getting a better haul in the initial deal, but because Paul would be teaming up with Kobe on the back-to-back Champions, the trade was nixed.
Paul committed to three years with the Clippers and could have done the same with the Lakers due to his Bird Rights. Heck, maybe he would have stayed with the Lakers until 2017, as he did with the Clippers.
Even if we just assume that he played only three years with the Lakers then we could probably assume that Kobe and Paul would have won at least two championships. While their play styles would not have meshed perfectly, the Lakers would be pairing the best point guard and the best shooting guard in the backcourt and the results would have followed.
They undoubtedly would have had other areas of the roster to address and they would have had to go through the Miami Heat, but assuming the Heat won the same number of championships, the Lakers could have won two more.
Imagine that — a four-year series similar to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors that pinned Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul against LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. It would have been one of the greatest Finals rivalries of all-time, and very well could have led to Kobe surpassing Jordan in rings.