20 1 1, the NBA stopped, and the Hornets boss was too busy to run the team for personal reasons and directly announced the sale of the team. During this period, the NBA executives temporarily took over all the decision-making power of the Hornets. Prior to this, the Hornets had a deal with the Lakers, and the Lakers will get the league's first point guard Paul in this deal. However, just as the deal was about to be reached, NBA President Stern urgently stopped the deal, and finally Paul failed to join hands with Kobe Bryant.
At first, Paul was particularly angry that he couldn't team up with Kobe Bryant in the Lakers, because he had already discussed the specific matters with Kobe before and began to attack the championship. However, if we study carefully, we will find that the transaction has been suspended for some reason.
Because Paul was the first point guard in the league at that time, he was selected as the best team of the season for many times, the king of assists and steals in the league. He not only organized the series well, but also scored well. Not only can you hit an emergency stop jumper, but you also have a stable outside projection ability. Although his record in the Hornets is not particularly outstanding, it does not affect Paul's greatness.
Similarly, before the deal was reached, Kobe had won five championships, two finals MVPs and one regular season MVP. What is even more frightening is that Kobe showed no signs of decline at that time, and his competitive state remained at a high level. So he is also a superstar and the best shooting guard in the league.
If the top two people can join hands, will the NBA president finally build it? One person, one city? The pattern will be broken, the probability of the Lakers winning the championship will be greatly improved, and it will be difficult for other teams in the league to win the championship, and this phenomenon may last for a long time. It is worth mentioning that at that time, the Lakers had just finished playing two consecutive championships and wanted to launch an impact on three consecutive championships. If Paul can unite with the Lakers and join hands with Kobe Bryant, then the Lakers are likely to win three consecutive championships again. The Lakers are already one of the giants in the NBA, and they have occupied too many honors. NBA executives need to take care of the feelings of other teams as much as possible to achieve the effect of rain and dew. So he will suppress the Lakers to some extent and encourage other teams to win honors.
So NBA President Stern stopped the deal for some reason. In order to make the NBA more enjoyable, he had to stop the two superstars from joining forces.