Chris Paul to the Lakers – David Stern, NBA Blocks Deal

Categorized as: Author: Erik, LA Lakers, Player News, Trades
Posted on: December 8th, 2011

See readers, this is how much I love ya guys. I had one eye on my wordpress tab, another on my Twitter, and another on my keyboard coz I don’t touch-type perfectly and I don’t really have THREE eyes. This was originally a Fantasy Fallout post, but the pissy team owners who weren’t involved in the deal “felt it wasn’t in the best interest of the league”, and of course David Stern caves.

What follows is the remainder of the post I wrote on the repercussions of what is now dead. I’ve decided to keep it posted for now as a reminder that I officially hate commenting on “breaking news”! — and that David Stern is a douche sometimes.

-o-

Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke it first that the Los Angeles Lakers have reached an agreement in principle to acquire Chris Paul. While it’s not yet final, all indications point to this being a deal that’s as good as done. From what we’ve gathered the Lakers got in bed with the Houston Rockets in order to complete a three-way deal. Aside from Paul the other big named player involved in the deal is the Lakers’ star power forward Pau Gasol, who is projected to be headed to Houston.

There are still rumors about the fine details still circulating the web. As I’m writing this, “Okafor” is trending worldwide on Twitter. There are speculations that the Lakers might receive Emeka Okafor for  “salary balancing” purposes. That detail, however, was not in Wojnarowski’s original article and we are withholding fantasy commentary on Okafor’s status for now.

Here’s how it breaks down as far as player movement is concerned:

Lakers get: Chris Paul

Houston gets: Pau Gasol

New Orleans get: Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Lamar Odom (from LA), Goran Dragic

Winners: Chris Paul, LA Lakers, Fantasy Team Owners who marked Jarrett Jack as a Keeper last season

Losers: Pau Gasol (not his fantasy value), New Orleans Hornets, and potentially Khloe and Lamar’s future long-distance relationship

The Lakers paid a hefty price by trading away one of the league’s best power forwards in Gasol to get Chris Paul. On the hand, Chris Paul IS the best point guard in the NBA so they’re not losing overall talent in this move; they’re just reallocating it to another position. That being said, this deal shouldn’t affect Chris Paul’s fantasy value. He’s still should be snagged within the first five picks in your fantasy draft. It must go without saying that the Lakers’ Paul-Bryant combo is by far the league’s deadliest back court tandem.

The move is unfortunate for Pau as Houston shipped most of the talent it could have surrounded him with. Pairing him with Kyle Lowry as an inside-outside double threat is nice for fantasy owners, but inadequate for the Rockets to expect early returns on their investment. Gasol will be the clear go-to guy on the team and will be bearing the brunt of the scoring responsibilities. This situation bumps Gasol up 3-5 draft places from where he was being picked in previous ADPs. Gasol is fully capable of winding up with a Top Five fantasy performance when everything has been said and done. This situation also cements Lowry as a solid third-round fantasy choice. He was, prior to this deal, an “either-or” choice with Jrue Holiday in my mock drafts. Now, I’ve got Lowry at a clear step ahead of Holiday as my “solid, second PG option.”

The Houston scoring void left behind by Martin and Scola’s departure instantly puts Chase Budinger on my “upside list.” He should be on yours too. That’s for now. We fully expect Houston to make more moves such as potentially chasing after Nene Hilario, so just pencil Budinger in those middle rounds for now.

As far as New Orleans is concerned, this suddenly puts both Jarrett Jack and Goran Dragic in most late/last-round fantasy radars. A little more beneficial for Jack’s value, while Dragic only gets radar pings in very deep leagues.

Kevin Martin and Luis Scola’s expected production and subsequent fantasy values should hold steady. Lamar Odom should expect to get more usage in New Orleans than he did in L.A. It should fluctuate even more IF Emeka Okafor is thrown into the mix of this deal. While Odom, as a multi-talented forward, should get a nudge upward in the rankings; fantasy managers should remember that his knees and his everything else will be limiting him to be able to do only so much.

Stay tuned everyone as we will cover this and all the other transactions and player movement during this shortened pre-season!

Fantasy Basketball – I Love this Game!

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Tags: Chase Budinger, Chris Paul, Kevin Martin, Kobe Bryant, Kyle Lowry, Luis Scola, Pau Gasol