2011-12 Season:
2011-12 will forever be known as a lockout-shortened year and the year that LeBron James won his first-ever title with the Miami Heat, vanquishing the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games.
Meanwhile, the vetoed Chris Paul trade had ramifications for the Lakers beyond the obvious. Lamar Odom, coming off a sixth man of the year award and a key piece in the back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010, was reportedly hurt by his inclusion in the attempted deal.
The Los Angeles Lakers subsequently scrambled to have him moved, getting shipped off to the Dallas Mavericks for a protected first-round pick and a trade exception. The move was not looked at favorably in the locker room and elicited this quote from Kobe Bryant:
"“To be honest with you, I don’t like it. It’s tough to lose Lamar. Pau (Gasol) is still here, and we’re all thankful for that. It’s hard when you’ve been through so many battles with players to just see them go somewhere else. It’s tough.”"
2011-12 also happened to be the strongest year that Andrew Bynum ever had as a pro, making the All-NBA second team off the back of nearly 19 points, 12 rebounds, and 2 blocks per game.
Despite a strong roster led by the majority of the back-to-back title nucleus, point guard remained a gaping hole on the 2011-12 Los Angeles Lakers. Take a look at the wasteland at point guard that season.
The front office was so desperate to not have Steve Blake be their first-string point guard, they gave up a first-round pick as part of a package to acquire Ramon Sessions. Meanwhile, the two biggest rivals to the Lakers in the West, the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder, were starting Tony Parker and Russell Westbrook at the point guard position.
Most Lakers fans know how the rest of this story goes: a humiliating 4-1 loss at the hands of those same Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Semi-Finals.
Would Chris Paul have changed the Lakers’ fortunes that season? My gut instinct is yes. Two of the four losses were by less than one basket. Westbrook ran wild against Sessions and destroyed him all series. Meanwhile, 2012 was a year that CP3 made both the All-NBA first team and the All-NBA Defensive first team. Flip the result of those two games and you have a 3-2 series heading back to LA.
As good as the San Antonio Spurs were that season, I also firmly believe that in this alternative reality, the Los Angeles Lakers would have beaten them in the Western Conference Finals in 6 games.
While offensively strong, a Tony Parker/Manu Ginobili backcourt would struggle mightily against a Paul/Kobe tandem. Westbrook and a young James Harden caused some problems for the Spurs in their series, and it’s safe to say that they weren’t on the level of CP3 and Kobe.
Meanwhile, while it may sound like a laughable statement present day, Tim Duncan would have had his hands full with the 2012 version of Andrew Bynum.
Would the Lakers’ playoff run comes to an end at the hands of the LeBron-James led Miami Heat in the NBA Finals? Quite possibly. The 2012 Heat had one of the best defenses I’ve ever seen, with all five of their starters (Mario Chalmers, Dwyane Wade, Shane Battier, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh) ranging from above-average to elite at that end of the floor.
Coupled with the firepower of their big three, LA would definitely have had their work cut out for them on both ends of the floor.
Breaking down some of the individual matchups Kobe and Wade likely play each other to a standstill, as would Bynum and Bosh. 32-year-old Metta World Peace would have done his best to slow down LeBron, but wouldn’t have been able to do enough to challenge him at the other end of the floor. If the Lakers were to win this series, it would likely be off the back of Chris Paul, who would’ve presented by far the biggest mismatch for the Heat at both ends of the court.
Regardless of whether you think they would’ve won the title or not, it’s safe to say that having Chris Paul at point guard would have likely led to the Los Angeles Lakers advancing at least one round further in the playoffs, if not all the way to the deciding round.