The New Orleans Hornets' three-team trade with the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets that would land Chris Paul in L.A. has been resubmitted to the league office for approval, according to sources close to the talks.
Paul
Initially, the Rockets' part of the deal was exactly the same, with Houston sending Luis Scola, Kevin Martin and a 2012 first-round draft pick to New Orleans, while receiving Pau Gasol from the Lakers, according to sources.
But sources close to the process told ESPN.com on Saturday afternoon that the Rockets have added unspecified players to the trade construction at the Hornets' request. The Rockets are prepared to make further tweaks, sources said, but have thus far been advised not to make any additional changes.
The rest of the specific changes to the original trade scenario were not immediately available, but sources told ESPN.com that a reconfigured trade has been presented by the league-owned Hornets to NBA commissioner David Stern in hopes that he'll approve this construction after vetoing Thursday's trade in principle.
The NBA on Friday afternoon gave the Hornets clearance to re-open conversations with all teams about possible deals, one day after Stern nixed a deal Thursday that would have landed Paul with the Lakers, Gasol with the Rockets and given the Hornets three new starters: Martin, Lamar Odom and Scola.
Both Gasol and Odom were present at the Lakers practice facility Saturday, although Gasol was the only one of the two practicing, according to Lakers spokesman John Black. Odom was undergoing his annual physical.
Sources close to the talks told ESPN.com earlier Friday that the Hornets, Lakers and Rockets were hopeful of reconfiguring the trade to the point that Stern, after absorbing heavy and widespread criticism for intervening, signs off this time.
In the afternoon, Yahoo! Sports reported that New Orleans had re-engaged the Lakers and Rockets to try to make the needed changes to a trade that would have also delivered guard Goran Dragic and a 2012 first-round pick to New Orleans.
"Yes, we've been given autonomy to make another trade," Hornets general manager Dell Demps told reporters at a news conference Friday night.
"We're back to work and everything is on the table."
The National Basketball Players Association, meanwhile, has decided not to take immediate action on behalf of Paul, according to sources close to the situation.
Chris Broussard is a senior NBA writer for ESPN The Magazine. Marc Stein is a senior writer for ESPN.com. Information from ESPNLosAngeles.com's Dave McMenamin was used in this report.
