In Control?

Wait, What?

In a week of deals in the MLB, the NBA decided to weigh in, and the NBA did so directly. The league shut down a deal to send Chris Paul to the Lakers in what would have been a three team deal that would have spread many on the Laker roster around.

Instead, the NBA, which now owns the New Orleans Hornets, nixed the deal that the Hornets organization had been piecing together. Almost as quickly as word got out that the trade would happen, the announcement came that it was actually not going to happen.

Does David Stern even realized what just happened?

I understand that the NBA has obvious stake in what goes on in New Orleans, but does that mean it should shut down a deal by the people that are involved in its day-to-day operations?

The situation stinks. It appeared that the deal would have actually hurt the Lakers the most, giving up guys like Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, and Chris Paul could get a trade. It's not clear what the NBA and David Stern's official stance is on the decision, but there's not much he could say that would make a lot of sense.

Even though the NBA owns the Hornets, they've mostly seemed distant to anything related to the Hornets but this one move is drastically different.

Funny enough, Bill Simmons and I (and probably Chris Paul) had the same reaction of "Wait, what?" to this whole scenario.

Of course, Bill Simmons can do a much better job of breaking it down and what it could mean than I can. So, I differ to him.