The NBA lockout officially ended this evening, when the players and owners ratified the new CBA in Manhattan, and everything else has already fallen back into place: The Clippers signed Caron Butler to a $24 million deal, the Knicks lost out on an opportunity to sign a great point guard, and the Lakers won everything. Basketball is back!
ESPN's Chris Broussard reports that a three-team trade between the Lakers, Rockets, and Hornets (who are, it's worth mentioning, currently owned by the league) will send Paul to Los Angeles, where he and Kobe Bryant will presumably take over the world and Mike Brown will not be allowed to speak in the huddle all season long. Pau Gasol would go to Houston, and the Hornets would get Lamar Odom, along with "either Luis Scola or Kevin Martin, and possibly both, as well as draft picks."
And it gets more terrifying for any non-Lakers fan: If the deal goes through this way, Broussard thinks L.A. will still be able to use Andrew Bynum as the "centerpiece of a trade offer for Orlando's Dwight Howard," which would essentially give the Lakers a rebooted Kobe-Shaq duo along with the league's best point guard. It's going to be a fun season.