Lakers Can’t Appeal NBA’s Decision on Chris Paul Trade

According to the LA Times, the Lakers can’t really do anything about the NBA’s ham-fisted decision to nix the Chris Paul trade last night: “The Lakers planned to appeal to the NBA office after the Chris Paul trade was nixed, but there was a problem: The NBA considered the trade to have been blocked by New Orleans, not the league itself. It’s a sticky situation because the NBA owns the Hornets after purchasing them last December. ‘This is technically a New Orleans decision,’ said an NBA official who did not want to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the trade. In other words, one of the three teams involved in Thursday’s trade technically got cold feet, but it’s hard to deny the existence of a contributing factor to the death of the deal. Some small-market owners were irritated by the Lakers acquiring the league’s top scoring-passing combo at point guard.”