Top 5 'What If' Moments in Recent NBA History
Every move, trade and draft pick that ever happened has led us to the present landscape of the NBA. Along the way, Franchises have made numerous mistakes in trading and selecting players.
Trade decisions have had such unexpected results that some have altered the fortunes of the league itself. Then there are the moves that never materialized, moves that were supposed to change the NBA.
Honorable Mention
Back in 2009, in one of the most outrageous moves in recent times, the Minnesota Timberwolves had two draft picks (fifth and sixth) before Stephen Curry got drafted by the Golden State Warriors with the seventh pick. The Timberwolves were in need of a point guard to pair up with budding star Kevin Love, and selected Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn, both point guards, ahead of Curry.
Flynn was out of the league after playing just three seasons, while Rubio wouldn't make his debut until 2011, a season in which he finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting behind Kyrie Irving.
So, moving on, here are five biggest 'what Ifs' that could have potentially altered the landscape of the NBA.
Note: We will not deal with any Injuries on this list, for they cannot be controlled. For Instance, 'What If Derrick Rose never got Injured?' is something that we will stay away from in this article.
#5 What if Chris Paul's trade to the Los Angeles Lakers was not vetoed by commissioner David Stern?
In the summer of 2011, a deal that was initially going to send New Orleans Hornets' Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers was vetoed by David Stern, the former commissioner of the NBA, for reasons unknown at the time.
In a three-team deal, Pau Gasol would have been traded to the Houston Rockets for Chris Paul. In exchange, the Hornets would have received Luis Scola, Kevin Martin, Goran Dragic, Lamar Odom, and a Minnesota Timberwolves unprotected first-round pick in 2012.
The New Orleans Hornets was owned by the NBA at the time and David Stern firmly believed that the Hornets were better off keeping Chris Paul. The three teams involved in the trade tried to persuade the league into reversing it's ruling but to no avail.
Chris Paul was ultimately traded to the Clippers in exchange for Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman, Al Farouq Aminu and an unprotected Timberwolves first-round Pick from the 2012 NBA Draft.
Lakers subsequently settled for an aging point guard in Steve Nash, who was past his prime and dealt with injuries through the season.
Had the NBA never vetoed the Chris Paul trade, it's not hard to think that things would have been quite different. Paul, along with Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard, could have potentially challenged for a championship or two at least.