Tweets Is Watching: Chris Paul Stays Put

Twitter has fun with nixed Chris Paul-to-Lakers trade

Late Thursday evening the tweets exploded when news broke that New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul was going to be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. Almost immediately the #LakerNation all but guaranteed that the NBA Championship was there's before the lockout shortened season even started. Some went as far to predict that Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard was going to follow in Shaquille O'Neal's 1996 footsteps and leave Disneyworld for Disneyland.

But then...

In case you're confused as to why and how such a demand would take place, peep game.

While the NBA lockout was an event that was predicted years in advance, fuel was added to the fire when LeBron James made his infamous "Decision" and left the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat. Of course we all know how team owner Dan Gilbert reacted in Comic Sans fury, but he was just one voice of many owners who felt that the move continued to put a foot on the neck of small market teams vying to compete with big market teams in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, etc. So even though the media would lead you to believe that the NBA lockout was about players wanting more money, it was really about small market team owners wanting more control and preventing bigger teams from snatching up all of he big time talent. So of course, after months of lost revenues and intense bickering during meetings to eventually settle on a deal, owners didn't take to kindly to business being conducted as usual. Sports/music writer (and apparent Hornets fan) Justin Ivey tends to agree...

The rest of the world however...eh, not as much. When it became official that the trade had been killed, Laker lovers and haters alike united for perhaps the first time in history to vent their frustrations. Most of it against NBA Commissioner David Stern and Cavs owner Dan Gilbert was reportedly the staunchest protestor of the deal.