The more I think about this “Paul demands a trade” rumor the more I begin to think it is a joke.  One that if it is true, Paul is playing on himself.  Unless I am missing something, how is he in a position to DEMAND a trade?  Like 420ftJesus stated, what is a demand without an “…or else.”

What will he do?

NOT PLAY?  Ok…  The Hornets have been there, and done that, last season.  So sit your merry butt on the pine and sulk.  If he is on the bench, the Hornets may not challenge for a championship, but did any of us expect that this season anyway?  We would just need to pick up a backup PG to spell Darren.  The Hornets can trade him when they get an offer they like and not just from the 4 places he wishes to go.

Will he flame the organization, city, or anyone else he can in order to force a move?  I doubt it, he would not want to go down the road of lowering his value and image by being seen as Starbury V2.0.

So what is the more likely scenario?  He asks politely to be traded, and gives a list of desired destinations.  The Hornets then see that his “desired” destinations don’t hold a candle to what the other teams in the league can offer, and he gets shipped to some other destination.  If he doesn’t like it, it doesn’t matter really.  This will only really affect what teams would offer in exchange for him, but that is already affected by him wanting out.

In the end he is most likely going to go somewhere that he has the same frustrations he currently has, opt out of his contract there, and then MAYBE get his fantasy of playing alongside a superstar somewhere.  To do so, he will have not played on a winner NOW which is why he “demanded” the trade and he will have foregone seeing if, with the head start of young talent they have, the Hornets can pull off building a team around him.

I really can’t believe that an intelligent man like Chris Paul is incapable of seeing how this will play out.  His best bet would have been to quietly wait out his time like Lebron and Bosh did in their situations.  If we see an about face in this rhetoric in the next couple days, I will believe that it is because he decided to go the Lebron and Bosh route.  Thus we should hold DC2 because it doesn’t change the odds of Paul leaving in 2 years, and not trade away Peja unless we can get a major talent in exchange.  That salary room can help us begin to rebuild next season with Paul being out of the picture as the primary thought.  I don’t like the idea of a CP3-less Hornets organization, but it just appears inevitable.