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David Stern statement on the Chris Paul to Lakers trade that will not happen

In response to inquiries, NBA Commissioner David Stern released the following statement:

“Since the NBA purchased the New Orleans Hornets, final responsibility for significant management decisions lies with the Commissioner’s Office in consultation with team chairman Jac Sperling. All decisions are made on the basis of what is in the best interests of the Hornets. In the case of the trade proposal that was made to the Hornets for Chris Paul, we decided, free from the influence of other NBA owners, that the team was better served with Chris in a Hornets uniform than by the outcome of the terms of that trade.”

Lamar Odom in stunned disbelief over almost being traded

Lamar Odom is still a Laker, but he doesn’t sound completely thrilled about it.

Odom admitted that he was “shocked” and “surprised” when told Thursday afternoon that the Lakers agreed to trade him to the New Orleans Hornets as part of a deal for point guard Chris Paul. But this evening when he heard that the NBA had killed the trade, Odom said he was in “total disbelief” over these new developments…

“Maybe I’ll see you there tomorrow [at practice],” Odom said. “But I doubt it. You don’t want to go to no place you’re not wanted. I’ll try to give them what they want as much as possible.”

Odom also felt bad for Gasol.

“Imagine how Pau feels,” Odom said. “Pau came to the Lakers and played here for four years, went to the Finals and lost, won two NBA championships and then got swept [by the Dallas Mavericks this year]. Wow! Imagine how he must feel.

“Man, I’m just in total disbelief about all of this,” Odom continued. “They don’t want my services, for whatever reason. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I was proud to be a Laker, so I’ll try to help them in the process as much as possible.”

— Reported by Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times (Blog)

David Stern cancels Chris Paul trade to Lakers

On the eve of the sport’s formal re-opening for business after a five-month lockout, NBA commissioner David Stern sent shockwaves throughout the league Thursday night by nixing the league-owned New Orleans Hornets’ plans to trade guard Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Within an hour of the Hornets striking an agreement in principle with the Lakers and Houston Rockets on a three-team trade that would have landed Paul in the same backcourt as Kobe Bryant, Stern informed the Hornets that they couldn’t make the trade, stunning team officials who had been working around-the-clock for days in hopes of bringing an end to the Paul saga before the season officially started.

Amid a stream of reports that angry owners were demanding the trade be vetoed, on the same day those owners had gathered in New York to ratify a new labor pact purportedly designed to foster competitive balance and prevent small-market teams from being raided for their stars, league officials tried to dispute claims of a revolt by insisting that the decision was Stern’s.

“It’s not true that the owners killed the deal,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said. “The deal was never discussed at the Board of Governors meeting and the league office declined to make the trade for basketball reasons.”

Yet in an email to Stern obtained by Yahoo! Sports and The New York Times, Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert called the proposed deal “a travesty” and urged Stern to put the deal to a vote of “the 29 owners of the Hornets,” referring to the rest of the league’s teams.

— Reported by Marc Stein of ESPN.com

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Shannon Brown, Sebastian Telfair to join Suns

In 2007 draft revisionist history, it is often said how the Suns could have had Rajon Rondo if they had not traded the pick in a money-saving move to Boston.

Actually, with concerns about Rondo’s shooting, some Suns staffers said at the time that Phoenix might have been more apt to draft Shannon Brown if it had kept the pick.

Four and a half years later, Brown will be a Sun. The Suns will sign Brown to a one-year, $3.5 million contract and the 6-foot-4 off-guard will join the team Friday.

The Suns, who also are expected to sign point guard Sebastian Telfair, pick up an athletic 26-year-old who averaged 8.7 points in 19.1 minutes per game for the Los Angeles Lakers last season.

— Reported by Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic

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Chris Paul reportedly wants no part of Celtics

Amid reports that New Orleans’ discussions had cooled with the Clippers and Warriors over what each team was willing to trade for Chris Paul, the Celtics were in a holding pattern last night.

Though the Celtics appear willing to trade Rajon Rondo and perhaps Glen Davis to the Hornets for Paul despite a sizable risk of losing the high-scoring point guard to free agency next summer, the gamble could make for a very brief attempt at the 18th title in franchise history.

Though the combination of Paul, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen sounds intriguing, especially over the short span of a 66-game season, it still doesn’t appeal to the 26-year-old star.

A source who has spent time recently with Paul insisted yesterday that the Hornets star considers the Celtics a non-starter for his career, and has no intention of signing an extension to play with the C’s in the long term.

The team is simply too old to stir his interest.

— Reported by Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald

Magic Johnson wants to buy the L.A. Dodgers

At a time when Major League Baseball wants to restore the Los Angeles Dodgers’ brand following years of damage under the ownership of Frank McCourt, Earvin “Magic” Johnson — arguably the most popular athlete in the city’s history — is a major player in a group that wants to buy the team.

“I’m a big baseball fan,” Johnson said by phone Friday, “and you think about what the Dodgers have meant to baseball and to Los Angeles, and that part’s a no-brainer. … I’ve been to that place [Dodger Stadium] hundreds and hundreds of times.”

Johnson was approached about a month ago by Stan Kasten, the former president of the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals — someone Johnson has known for about 30 years, and who once offered him a job to coach the Atlanta Hawks. Mark Walter, the CEO of Guggenheim Partners, a private global financial services firm, is the money muscle behind the group, which is called Guggenheim Baseball Management. According to a fact sheet about the group, Guggenheim Partners has more than $125 billion in assets under management.

— Reported by Buster Olney of ESPN the Magazine

Will Lakers start Odom, Gasol and Bynum?

The Lakers’ first headache will be to determine who’s on their team when training camp starts next Friday. Their next one will be figuring out a starting lineup.

When Andrew Bynum returns from a five-game suspension, Coach Mike Brown might take a long look at a large frontcourt of Bynum, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, an idea tossed around as a curiosity piece the last few years but never fully employed by Phil Jackson’s staff.

The move would send World Peace to the bench, which goes hand in hand with the Lakers’ concern about his physical shape. They hadn’t been allowed to contact him during the lockout, but he looked heavier when he arrived at the training facility, adding some of the weight he dropped last season.

Heavy or not, the Lakers will not use their amnesty provision on him or Luke Walton this season unless they acquire a starting small forward in a trade or free agency in the next few weeks. The Lakers need to keep World Peace right now because they’re not sure what free agents they can get with their limited spending power.

— Reported by Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times

Kris Humphries files for annulment against Kim Kardashian, says he was defrauded

TMZ has learned … Kris Humphries just filed for an annulment against Kim Kardashian, on grounds Kim defrauded him into marrying her.

Sources close to Kris tell TMZ … Kris was not in on the alleged fraud, meaning he did not stage the marriage for Kim’s reality show. We’re told Kris wanted this to be a genuine marriage, but Kim was never really on board.

Kim has already filed for divorce — but according to the docs, obtained by TMZ — Kris wants Kim to pay his attorney’s fees.

— Reported by TMZ

Las Vegas NBA odds say Heat will win 2012 championship

The Las Vegas oddsmakers are banking on LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat to get back to the NBA Finals in 2011-12, and once again the folks in Sin City view the Heat as the favorites to win it all.

Miami’s Big Three, runners-up a year ago, are listed at 2-to-1 to take home the title in the truncated NBA season.

“There was very heavy betting on the Heat at the start of last season because you have LeBron and Chris Bosh and they’re saying that they’ll win seven championships,” Benjamin Lee Eckstein of AmericasLine.com said. “Once again this year they’re the immediate favorites.”

— Reported by Bernie Augustine of the New York Daily News

InsideHoops.com editor says: We have a ton of NBA free agents who still need to find homes and plenty of trades that may materialize, but just based on the core players each team has under contract right now, this certainly seems reasonable.

Kobe Bryant needs to keep pacing himself

Kobe Bryant received an innovative procedure on his surgically repaired right knee, and teammate accounts suggest the Lakers star appears healthy. But that doesn’t mean Bryant’s immune from future injuries.

Bryant remains a stubborn and determined force, willing to find any nuance or edge to maintain dominance. But that doesn’t mean he won’t continue facing his physical decline.

The Lakers’ star isn’t done. He has the goods and a healthier body to put together an MVP-caliber season. For Bryant to reach that point, however, Coach Mike Brown must decide how he should play Bryant in the 2011-2012 campaign without seriously compromising his body.

— Reported by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times Blog