by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni
Chris Paul is recovering slowly from injuries, but his name continues to swirl in trade rumors.
And like everything else this summer, it somehow all centers around LeBron James.
According to Yahoo!, William Wesley — the NBA’s ultimate power broker — is telling teams that the way to LeBron’s free agent heart, is through CP3:
As the July 1 start of free agency pushes closer, powerbroker William Wesley has been working multiple angles to NBA front offices about possible trades and signings. Here’s his latest: World Wide Wes has been pitching teams with salary-cap space that trading for New Orleans Hornets star Chris Paul will dramatically increase their chances of signing LeBron James, multiple sources told Yahoo! Sports.
New Orleans general manager Jeff Bower has no intention of trading Paul, but multiple league executives believe that until owner George Shinn closes on the team’s sale with billionaire oilman Gary Chouest, there is a price with which Paul could be pried away.
“He can be had with Shinn in there, but once the new guy takes over, he’s off the market,” one senior front-office executive told Y! Sports. Can Wesley deliver Paul? Extremely doubtful, but that hasn’t stopped his sales pitch to teams, league sources said. First of all, Paul hasn’t requested a trade out of New Orleans, so the franchise isn’t under pressure to move him. He has two years and $31.3 million left on his contract until he can opt out before the 2012-13 season.
As the report points out, trading Chris Paul isn’t likely to happen, and would be even harder to explain to the fan base in New Orleans. And the front-office continues to insist that Paul isn’t a movable asset.
The rumor may not have much legs to it, but Chris Paul and LeBron James’ close friendship will continue to stroke the fire of what is sure to be a wild summer.
