Jeanie Buss Finally Reveals Why the NBA Kept Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant From Teaming up Together on the Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers and Jeanie Buss wanted to pair Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant, but the NBA stopped the process. This is probably one of the biggest “what if” situations in league history. The vetoed trade made headlines for quite some time. Had the Lakers signed Paul in 2011, they could have turned into bona fide title contenders. Former NBA commissioner David Stern vetoed the trade deal and Paul joined the Clippers.

The Black Mamba and his team had just made three straight NBA finals and won two titles before ending up with a loss in the Western Conference Semifinals in 2010-11.  The team headed into the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season and they were one of the best teams in the league.

Paul was coming off his fourth straight All-Star selection with the New Orleans Hornets. Many would agree he was one of the top point guards in the NBA.

In this trade, Paul was joining the Lakers, Lamar Odom was joining the Hornets, and Pau Gasol was going all the way to the Houston Rockets. Houston also wanted to send Kevin Martin, Goran Dragic, Luis Scola and a first-round picks to the Pelicans.

Jeanie Buss didn’t pair Chris Paul with Kobe Bryant

The NBA purchased the Hornets back in 2010. Stern had authority over the team’s decisions so he vetoed the trade.

Buss talked about this on the All The Smoke podcast.

“As we’re in this room, ratifying the CBA with the union and voting on revenue sharing, all of the sudden, there’s kind of this rumor that goes around the room about a trade,” Buss said on the April 22 episode. “… There’s no way a trade could be happening if we’re all in this room, doing league business. Except the general manager of the [Hornets] felt that he had the authority to make a trade.”

Jerry Buss didn’t travel to NY and she stepped in.

“The trade was happening while everybody is in this room. Teams felt like, ‘How is that possible? We didn’t get a chance to make a trade for Chris Paul.’ So, they all attacked the league and said, ‘This wasn’t fair,” Buss said.

Buss said Stern didn’t veto the deal as a commissioner but he did that as the Hornets’ governor.

“It wasn’t the NBA trying to keep the Lakers from Chris Paul; it was about David Stern had a responsibility to make sure that it was a trade that he would approve,” she added. “So, now he just calls off the trade and wants everybody to cool down because now you had a lot of teams thinking there was some funny business going on, but it wasn’t. It was just by coincidence.”