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The Los Angeles Clippers today acquired four-time NBA All-Star Chris Paul from the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman, Al-Farouq Aminu and the 2012 first round draft selection the Clippers acquired from the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2005. The Clippers will also receive two future second round draft picks to complete the trade.
The 2006 NBA Rookie of the Year brings career averages of 18.7 points, 9.9 assists, 4.6 rebounds, 2.4 steals in 37.1 minutes over his six-year NBA career. A career 47.1 percent shooter from the field, Paul, 26, is also a 35.9 percent 3-point shooter and has made 85.3 percent of his free throws.
The North Carolina native appeared in 80 games for New Orleans during the 2010-11 season, averaging 15.9 points, 9.8 assists, 4.1 rebounds and a league-high 2.4 steals per game. It was the fourth time in his NBA career that Paul has led the league in steals.
A member of the All-NBA Third Team in 2011, Paul was selected to the All-NBA Second Team in 2009 and the First Team in 2008 and appeared in the NBA All-Star Game in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. The 6-foot, 175 pound point guard enjoyed his best NBA season during the 2008-09 season when he averaged 22.8 points, 11.0 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 2.8 steals. Paul led the NBA in assists two times from 2007-09 and was selected as a member of the NBA’s All-Defensive First Team in 2009 and All-Defensive Second Team in 2008 and 2011.
In his career, Paul has appeared in 23 total playoff games, averaging 21.9 points, 11.1 assists and 5.3 rebounds in the post-season.
A stand-out at Wake Forest University that saw him earn NCAA First Team All-American honors as a sophomore, Paul was drafted by the Hornets with the fourth overall pick of the 2005 NBA Draft.
“We wanted to make sure that we got the best possible deal for a player of Chris’ caliber, and we feel great about the outcome,” Hornets Chairman and Governor Jac Sperling said. “We feel our future looks very bright and we look forward to continue to create an organization that New Orleans will be proud of. We want to thank Chris Paul, an extraordinary person who contributed so greatly to our basketball team and our community. We wish him the best of luck.”
“With this trade, we now have three additional players who were among the top eight draft picks in their respective drafts as well as our own first round pick and Minnesota’s first round pick,” said Hornets General Manager Dell Demps. “Aminu is a young talent with a bright future, Gordon is a big time scorer and one of the best two guards in the league and Kaman is a proven center and former All-Star. Combined with our other players, we will field a competitive team and our future looks great.”
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Gordon (6-3, 220), was drafted with the 7th overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft by the Clippers, averaged career-highs of 22.3 points, 4.4 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 56 games last season (all starts). He scored 30+ points eight times last season, put together a streak of 20 or more points in 12 consecutive games and had 36 20+ point games overall. The Indianapolis native holds career averages of 18.1 points, 3.3 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game over 196 games (181 starts). Gordon was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team in 2009 and was named the Western Conference Rookie of the Month in January of his rookie season. He went to Indiana University for one season before declaring for the draft, where he averaged 20.9 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 32 games. Gordon played for Team USA in the 2010 FIBA World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey helping team to a perfect 9-0 record en route to winning the gold medal averaging 8.6 points.
Kaman (7-0, 265), who was the 6TH overall of the 2003 NBA Draft by the Clippers, averaged 12.4 points and 7.0 rebounds in 32 games (15 starts) last season. He holds career averages of 11.8 points and 8.3 rebounds in 493 games (425 starts). Since the 2003-04 season, Kaman is one of 31 players with 4,000+ rebounds and is just one of six players who grabbed all of those rebounds with just one team – joining Dwight Howard (Orlando), Tim Duncan (San Antonio), Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas), Udonis Haslem (Miami) and Josh Smith (Atlanta). Kaman had his best season of his NBA career en route to being named an NBA All-Star for first time during the 2009-10 season, averaging a team-high 18.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists in 34.3 minutes. The Central Michigan University product participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing as a member of the German National Team due to his great- grandparents German heritage, averaging 10.4 points and 6.0 rebounds in 19.8 minutes.
Aminu (6-9, 215), who was drafted 8th overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2010 NBA Draft, averaged 5.6 points and 3.3 rebounds in 17.9 minutes per game over 81 games (14 starts) last season for the Clippers. The 22-year old averaged 8.1 points and 3.6 rebounds in 22.1 minutes over his 14 starts last season with the team. The former Wake Forest standout averaged 15.8 points, 10.7 rebounds and accumulated 44 blocks in 31 games while shooting 44.7 percent from the field during his sophomore season for the Demon Deacons before declaring early for the NBA Draft. Aminu descends from a line of Nigerian kings.
Read NBA fan reaction to the trade in this basketball forum topic.
