Aborted Chris Paul Trade Cannot Be Appealed, Because It Was Technically The Hornets Who Backed Out

Despite Dell Demps nominally having full authority to make player moves, it was pressure from other owners (and therefore the owners of the Hornets) that killed the Chris Paul deal last night. So this was never a completed trade vetoed by the league—for litigation purposes, this was a trade that one side chose not to make. Obviously that's bullshit, because why would the Hornets still be trying to make the move? But it still means that the Lakers, the Hornets and the Rockets are reportedly not allowed to appeal to the league office.

Combine this with NBA spokesman Mike Bass's words last night—"It's not true that the owners killed the deal"—and you can see what the company line is going to be. There never was a trade. The Hornets did not really want to trade Chris Paul to the Lakers. David Stern had no involvement. We have always been at war with Bigmarket.