The Los Angeles Lakers are working on a revised three-team trade with the New Orleans Hornets and Houston Rockets, trying to bring point guard Chris Paul to Los Angeles. A new proposal has been sent to the league for approval, but it is unclear just what revisions were made in an attempt to satisfy NBA commissioner David Stern.
Hornets' general manager Dell Demps was trying to get Lakers' second-year guard Devin Ebanks added to the trade, per Ken Berger of CBS Sports, but by Saturday afternoon it was reported that the NBA directive to have more young players added to the deal would be satisfied by the Rockets adding more to the deal, per both Berger and Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
Berger reported that Pau Gasol would still be going to Houston and that Luis Scola and Kevin Martin would remain as part of the trade going from Houston to New Orleans. Gasol sounded on Saturday like someone who didn't want the trade to go through. "I'm happy it hasn't happened. My heart is here. My mind is here," Gasol said after practice, per Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register. "I had a lot of fun today practicing with my guys. Hopefully I'll be able to do it tomorrow."
Lamar Odom, who was a part of the original deal, is likely a part of the revised trade as well, though nothing has yet been confirmed. Odom missed Lakers practice for the second straight day on Saturday, per Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. If the players from the Lakers don't change in the deal, one might imagine they would either need to take on salary like center Emeka Okafor from the Hornets, or add a draft pick or two in the deal. Wojnaroswki reported that earlier Saturday the Lakers had been working to obtain a draft pick they could in turn include in the trade for Paul.
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