NBA Rumors: 10 Reasons Why New Orleans Hornets Chris Paul Will Demand a Trade

Chris Paul is one of the most talented point guards to have ever played in the NBA, possibly the second best behind Magic Johnson.

CP3 is a rarely gifted athlete who displays a hard work ethic that is recognized from his admission to laboring over Steve Nash film footage in order to improve his game.

He is the ultimate point guard, the tenacious quarterback of the New Orleans Hornets who averages at least 20 points and at least 10 assists almost every game.  He runs the offense and puts the plays in motion.  Like Nash and Magic, Paul feeds his teammates and makes them better.

This past offseason NBA fans were treated to the “summer of LeBron affair,” followed by the “Chris Paul affair” that didn’t quite get off the ground despite the media blitz.

New Orleans fans are happy that CP3 is still in town, despite his controversial trade demand, but is Paul really happy with his situation as "king bee" at The Hive?  

The possibility of Chris Paul departing from the city of New Orleans, the only NBA home he has ever known, as the NBA’s February 2011 trade deadline looms near increases with every day.

A comparison of Chris Paul’s situation to LeBron James’ exit out of Cleveland would be like comparing apples and oranges. 

This is simply because the king’s unmatched mega star power that was rivaled by only Tiger Woods in sports, seduced the whole country into jumping onto the Cleveland Cavalier bandwagon.  As a result, the majority of NBA fans were also LeBron James’ fans and “the king in Cleveland” would have worked just as well for his brand as the king anywhere else. 

The same cannot be said about Chris Paul in New Orleans or any other NBA superstar, including Kobe Bryant.  Kobe needs L.A. and Kobe would not work in a small cap NBA city.

It saddens me to come to the realization that Chris Paul’s days in the Big Easy are numbered.

Here are the top 10 reasons why Chris Paul will demand a trade by the NBA’s trade deadline.

GM Dell Demps has signed a truckload of new players and cut slightly less than that to trim down the New Orleans Hornets roster.  While Trevor Ariza and Marco Belinelli are nice acquisitions, Demps still needs to get that other missing superstar to help out David West and Chris Paul.

Other acquisitions like DJ Mbenga who are two-minute, two-points-a-game wonders and have absolutely no business in the NBA are puzzling to say the least.

It’s obvious that starter Emeka Okafor is not a top 10 let alone a top 25 big man in the league.  The Hornets need a guy at this spot who can produce between 15 and 20 points a game to go along with 12 rebounds.  Okafor is a 10-10 guy at the bottom end of the double-double spectrum, who may be able to get the job done but lacks any sense of urgency in doing so.

It is also obvious that the real Marcus Thornton hasn’t showed up yet.  Why Thornton has not cracked the starting lineup and picked up where he left off last season is an enigma.  It would certainly help Chris Paul’s purpose if he decided to grace us with his presence sometime sooner than later.

If there is to be any chance of Chris Paul staying in New Orleans, Demps must replace Emeka Okafor in the middle for a more effective big man.  It would also help the Hornets’ cause if they could sign another superstar like Carmelo Anthony.

At this point both those kind of acquisitions seem unlikely, although both would make the Hornets as powerful as any other NBA team and would increase the likelihood of Chris Paul planting his roots in the Big Easy.

Dell Demps has his work cut out for him and is facing the daunting task of building a top five NBA team in less time than it would take Usain Bolt to run the 100-meter dash. 

Demps is in a do-or-die situation because loosing Chris Paul would tank the Hornets, but he certainly gets an A for effort. 

With the exception of power forward David West, Chris Paul plays for a team that represents a tremendous work-in-progress situation. 

This includes starters Trevor Ariza, Emeka Okafor and Marco Belinelli, as well as bench support from Marcus Thornton, Quincy Pondexter, Jason Smith, Curtis Jerrells and others.

Trevor Ariza remains terribly inconsistent, Emeka Okafor is just plain lazy and Marcus Thornton has pulled a disappearing act.

While some of these players represent tremendous potential, none of them are in the same talent ZIP code as Paul. 

Also realistically speaking, it is unlikely that the Hornets will receive immediate returns on their investment on some of these players who represent long term gains. 

CP3 finds himself coaching and mentoring these young players who are not much younger than himself.  Even if these guys were somehow able to push the envelope, it will not be enough to make New Orleans a top five team, increasing the likelihood of Paul demanding a trade.

New Orleans is first and foremost a football town.  The Hornets come in a distant second behind the Saints, as well as the university football programs of Tulane and LSU.

Chris Paul plays second-fiddle to the likes of the Saints Drew Brees and Reggie Bush where the status quo between these athletes would be on the same level in a big five NBA city.

Why would a first-rate NBA superstar want to play second-fiddle to his football counterparts?  If you were in his shoes, would you find this acceptable?

To say the Hornets have gone through a tremendous makeover would be a huge understatement.  Even resurrecting a Ford Model-T from the scrap yard wouldn't require this much of an overhaul.   In fact, it’s almost as if everyone from the top down has been changed. 

There is a new GM in Dell Demps, a new coach in Monty Williams and so many new players it makes one’s head spin.  To add to this, the Hornets face an uncertain and precarious ownership situation that's dragging its feet with no resolution in sight. 

While both rookie GM Demps and rookie coach Williams are doing a great job making the best of an almost impossible situation, will this be enough? 

Keep in mind that they are facing Chris Paul’s impossible time constraint of putting a winning team on the floor almost immediately.  Demps and Williams deserve a lot of credit for the jobs they've done so far, but there are still many more miles to go.  This certainly still seems like an unfeasible proposition despite their impressive resolve.

New faces everywhere will result in chemistry problems that require lots of time to adjust, time that Paul will probably not want to spend.

Chris Paul has already tasted amazing success stemming from the 2007-08 season, when he led the Hornets to a franchise win-loss record of 56-26.  That year the Hornets had the second best record in the Western Conference and Chris Paul established himself as an NBA superstar.  He also recorded his first 20-point, 10-assist season.

Since then, the Hornets have steadily declined amid great expectations by ending last season dead last in the Southwest division—and with a losing record for the first time since 2007-08.

After that amazing run when Paul had “been there and done that” and with renewed hopes of an NBA title in the near future, it’s not hard to understand his frustration moving forward. 

Will Chris Paul be languishing away if he stays in New Orleans?  He must be wondering the very same thing.  The very notion must be perplexing. 

Even before Boston’s Big Three model of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen formed and was succeeded by the Heats Miami Thrice, the NBA has had its fair share of big three teams. 

These included stellar teams such as the Celtics (Bird, McHale, Parish), the Lakers (Magic, Abdul-Jabbar, Worthy) and the Bulls (Jordan, Pippen, Rodman).

The current Lakers actually have a big five with Bryant, Bynum, Gasol, Artest and Odom.  Possibly the largest assortment of superstars on a single team in NBA history.  For some players like Kobe Bryant, a Big Three team is not enough to win a championship. 

A Big Three would certainly be enough, however, for the likes of Chris Paul.   

Chris Paul knows the Hornets are at least one superstar away from contending for an NBA title, something that hasn’t happened despite all the trade activity stirred up by GM Dell Demps.  CP3 is also motivated to form his own Big Three, following in buddy LeBron's footsteps.

A big three in New Orleans of Chris Paul, David West and Carmelo Anthony would be the nucleus of a formidable team, but could it happen?  That is the biggest question and would certainly ensure Chris Paul’s commitment to the Hornets for the foreseeable future. 

At this point in time, that assembly of superstars seems inconceivable..

Chris Paul has the innate athletic and intuitive ability to tip the balance of power in favor of several NBA teams, enough in fact to almost guarantee a title.  These teams would include:

1)  Orlando

2)  L.A.

3)  Miami

4)  Dallas

5)  San Antonio

6)  Oklahoma

7)  Denver

When an NBA superstar has this kind of power to tip the scales, it is truly amazing.  CP3's mega contribution on any of these teams would again change the landscape of the NBA. 

Chris Paul is the type of quarterback PG who can run the offense so efficiently that it would make the other superstars he plays with even better. 

CP3 most probably knows this, which would make accepting his role in New Orleans even harder.   

It was not long ago that Chris Paul toasted Carmelo Anthony and his wife at their wedding in New York.  While it cannot be confirmed, Paul is heavily rumored to have hinted of teaming up with Anthony for the Knicks.

NY City appears to be the most logical place for both CP3 and his buddy Melo to land, both from a successful marketing and career perspective. 

That’s because this magnate destination would allow them to join Amare Stoudemire to form their own big three with the New York Knicks. 

Also CP3 would become the fast and furious part of Mike D'Antoni effective run-and-gun style offense.

Whether or not all the stars will align in order to allow this transaction to take place is a source for much debate on the Internet.  Paul still has two years left on his contract with New Orleans, while Melo still has one year left on his with Denver.  That means that any trade with New York will cost the Knicks dearly in compensation.

Still, a Melo trade is imminent.  The question is how imminent is a Chris Paul trade and will the two friends land with the Knicks?

The proliferation of big three tandems across the league has been a recipe for success, so why not in the Big Apple?

So many NBA teams are trying to pilfer Chris Paul from the New Orleans Hornets that they can be counted on both hands. 

Despite the Hornets emphatically holding on to CP3 with absolutely no signs of wanting to trade him, the vultures remain at the gate.  The three biggest vultures with the most to gain are the New York Knicks, the Dallas Mavericks and the Orlando Magic. 

The Hornets ownership situation remains uncertain, and they are over the salary cap.  The blood these teams smell is too much for them to ignore.

Chris Paul is aware of the demand for his services in a city that could help him win a championship.  How long will it take before his reluctance to leave the Hornets turns into an outright trade demand?

In both economic and marketing terms, the Chris Paul “brand” faces diminishing returns in the Big Easy with every year that he delays his exit to a top five NBA big city. 

This means that the power of CP3 has reached its brand threshold in New Orleans, a threshold that could easily be exceeded in one of the NBA’s bigger cities. 

These prized destinations would include New York, L.A., Boston, Dallas and Miami, where the demographics are in place to support a superstar like Chris Paul at the highest level.

The carrot is being dangled on a daily basis.  Will Chris Paul’s loyalty for his team outweigh his diminishing brand in New Orleans? 

What would you do if you were in Chris Paul’s shoes?