Musings on the Chris Paul Trade Fiasco

December 6, 2010"Q. Can you explain when trades are made, or if a free agent wants to be signed, what is the process that Dell [Demps] has to go through, do you say yeah, we'll do that trade or we won't do that trade? DAVID STERN: Actually, the league generally approves all trades, number one. And number two, as far as we're concerned there have been while this process has been going on, there have been two significant transactions. And our response to both of them was you guys are management, you understand your budget and your instructions, just go ahead, because we've got Jac Sperling, Hugh Weber here, and if they recommend it, then we're going to be approving it."(Thanks to Hornets Report for the transcript)December 8, 2011367 days later, we experienced one of the most surreal days in NBA history, as the stunning news that the Lakers had acquired Chris Paul without giving up Andrew Bynum (thus suddenly making the Paul-Howard dream seem viable) was t...