We’re over a third of the way through the NBA season and Mark Cuban is still complaining about the Chris Paul trade. Speaking to ESPN 
earlier this week, Cuban said he still believes the Hornets got the raw end of the Chris Paul deal.
“It’s not about being better or worse,” Cuban said when asked to compare the offers for Paul. “It’s hard to judge any trade until it’s done. It’s about the concepts involved and the integrity of what we went through for the CBA. That’s what it’s all about. (The league office) screwed the pooch either way. The whole idea about having most of these rules is that you’d have an advantage and wouldn’t have to trade people.”
In case you forgot the Hornets got Eric Gordon, who is now out for six weeks thanks to knee surgery, Chris Kaman, Al-Farouq Aminu and the rights to Minnesota’s 2012 first round pick. Gordon is injured, they tried to trade Kaman and failed and Aminu is struggling, though he’s shown improvement lately. So yeah, it’s not looking so good for the Hornets. If you look at the quote, “Cubes” also means the trade went against everything the owners fought for in the CBA negotiations.
The new CBA was meant to help teams keep star players, but you have to respect a team wanting to get something in return if a team thinks they’re going to lose a player for nothing.
In the interview at least, Cuban didn’t take in to account this depth of this year’s draft and the fact that the Hornets are in line to get a top 3 pick and another lottery pick from the Minnesota Love/Rubios. Who knows, that could also be a top three pick. If they resign Eric Gordon, he along with their draft picks could be the start of something very promising in New Orleans. They also have a $14 million expiring contract in Chris Kaman which gives them even more flexibility moving forward.
Also, Cuban should be thanking the league office for blocking the Rockets-Lakers-Hornets trade because it allowed the Lakers to gift wrap Lamar Odom to Dallas.
