The deal could get done but it would be difficult to put together. The only reason the deal would ever get done is in the case that the team knew they were going to lose Paul. The deal would basically have to be Kendrick Perkins, Russell Westbrook and another player such as B.J. Mullens. See example below: - http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=43nznpd I don't beleive that this is the best option for the Hornets if they have to trade Paul. A better option is one that I heard that would send CP3 to the Clippers. Example below: http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=3e6yyd7 Clippers receive Chris Paul Emeka Okafor Hornets receive Eric Gordon Chris Kaman Mo Williams Al-Farouq Aminu This scenario allows the Hornets to dump Okafors contract while getting young pieces like Eric Gordon, Mo Williams, Al-Farouq Aminu and the expiring contract of Chris Kaman.

It is doable if you throw in another piece in the trade, a la nick collison's horrible contract, another role player or perhaps a center prospect like Cole Aldrich (originally drafted by us, hmm). If we could dump a big contract along with (say Ariza or Oak,) it might make it more worth it--but that all depends on whether you like those two or not. I think Russ would actually play well with Jack starting at PG and sliding back to his college position at the 2. That would essentially mean we'd have two combo guards running the backcourt. It would be a smallish backcourt but it would definitely be able to score points.

I would say no to this trade unless we are hours away from the trade deadline and we haven't secured Paul long term. I'm not as high on Russ as a lot of fans and pundits. I don't think he'll ever be a superstar despite having superstar talent. He is a scoring lead guard and those guys just don't get far without great talent around them. Mot to mention there's no reason to believe we could keep Westbrook long term without over paying him.