2011-2012: Chris Paul comes to town
We all remember when Chris Paul wanted to be traded from the New Orleans Hornets, now the Pelicans, to the Los Angeles Lakers to play alongside Kobe Bryant in LA.
That almost came to fruition too, as the Lakers were slated to send Pau Gasol to the Houston Rockets and Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Lamar Odom, Goran Dragic and a 2012 first round pick to the Hornets while Paul would head to the Lakers.
But Commissioner David Stern would veto this trade after the five-month NBA lockout period, which sent pretty hefty remorse his way from Lakers fans.
A few days later, Paul was traded to the LA Clippers as he still wanted to go to Los Angeles, and the franchise struck gold by landing the All-Star point guard. The team sent Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman, Al-Farouq Aminu and Minnesota’s 2012 first round pick for CP3 and Stern approved the trade to end a week of absolute turmoil for New Orleans.
Paul came to a team which featured a seasoned Blake Griffin in his second full season season, Chauncey Billups, DeAndre Jordan, Kenyon Martin and Nick Young along with the other regulars and the Clippers took off.
Del Negro led the Clippers to a 40-26 lockout-shortened season, and their first playoff appearance since the 2005-2006 season. The Clippers would defeat the Memphis Grizzlies in seven games in round one but were squandered in round two by Gregg Popovich as they were swept by the San Antonio Spurs.
Despite the early playoff exit, the Clippers proved they were here for some time by making the postseason and creating a culture of winning with CP3, Griffin and Jordan. The seasons to come would show a changing of the guard in LA, which would eventually lead to the “Lob City Era”.