In the off-season before the 2012 season, the Los Angeles Lakers completed a trade that landed them Chris Paul, widely regarded as the best point guard in the NBA. Of course, we all know what happened next as the trade was vetoed by then-NBA Commissioner David Stern for ‘basketball Reasons.’
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The prospect of a Kobe-Paul backcourt is something Lakers fans continue to dream about, and Lakers head coach Byron Scott had a funny response when asked about that possibility according to Lakers Nation reporter Serena Winters:
Byron, can you imagine Kobe & CP3 together in the backcourt? "Mhhm. Sometimes, you just want to say damnit David Stern"(*cue media laughter)
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) November 1, 2014
Many point to the vetoed Chris Paul trade as the first step in the downfall of the Lakers. The team would eventually add Steve Nash and Dwight Howard, but Nash would only play 65 games and has already been ruled out for this season while Howard left the team for Houston after only one season.
Scott himself has coached both players and experienced decent success with Paul when both were in New Orleans. If anyone knows how both great players work, it would be Byron Scott, and having them on one team would be any coach’s dream.
Chris Paul is one of the biggest ‘what could have been’ moments in Lakers history. Now, he is firmly entrenched as the leader of the Clippers and trying to make the city into a Clippers town. Fans will always wonder how the two would have worked together, but we will never know.
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