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So could the two Lakers starters — Bynum and Kobe Bryant — forge a temporary peace with the two Clippers starters — Chris Paul and Blake Griffin — and even pass to one another? "I think so. I think they want to win," Lakers Coach Mike Brown said. "I think the West wants to beat the East." Hugging, though, might be asking too much. Maybe just letting Bynum visit Lob City on a day pass might suffice. "I don't know if they'll hug it out," Brown said. "All those guys are competitive. I think this is going to be a very good team. I know it will be fun to watch." Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin, Andrew Bynum, Mike Brown 

Chris Miller: Kobe CP3 Durant Blake Griffin and Andrew Bynum Western All Star starters Twitter

Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, Andrew Bynum 

Clippers are supposed to shake Lakers' hands and whisper, "Any way you can work a deal for me?" Who the hell does Chris Paul think he is? "I didn't choose to come here," says Paul, a four-time All-Star at only 26. "I got traded. But I looked at it as an unbelievable opportunity." The Clippers? An opportunity? "I've always liked this franchise!" ESPN.com

Los Angeles Clippers, Chris Paul 

Paul slaps his forehead. "Half the things I do, I got from him! I used to come around a ball screen and he'd be holding on to my wrist!" Remember Paul's nasty dust-up with Kobe Bryant in Game 4 of their playoff series last year? The bumping and the yelling? Now his locker is 100 feet down the hall from his. Awkward. "Kobe's my friend, but for those 48 minutes, I don't care who it is, I ain't buddy-buddy with anybody," Paul says. ESPN.com

Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant 

Gasol swore no patronizing intent, but the message was unmistakable: Run along, Chris. Run along, Clippers. It was patronizing and it was the perfect punctuation for a 96-91 victory over the Clippers on a crazy Staples Center evening. The night ended with Bryant trying to calm down his buddy, Paul, only to fight back laughter as Paul ripped into Bryant about Gasol laying his hands on him. “Pau’s not a patronizing guy,” Bryant told Yahoo! Sports. “I’d do some stuff like that, but not him. That’s just not him. “Chris doesn’t like that stuff. He’s got that little-man complex. I do that to his head all the time. Man, he just hates it. But he’s a tough little [expletive], and he’s not going to let that [expletive] slide, accident or not.” Yahoo! Sports

Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol 

Gasol was determined from the start Wednesday. He also antagonized Paul at the end, rubbing his hand on the head of the Clippers guard, who reacted by yelling at Gasol. "That's the way he is. It doesn't surprise me," Gasol said, revealing why he messed with Paul. "Sometimes you just get tired of certain people, certain players talking too much. That's what happened." Bryant and Paul, longtime friends, also had words."Just friendly conversation," Bryant said, smiling. Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Chris Paul, Pau Gasol 

Pau Gasol must have thought Chris Paul was being childish or child-like. Why else would he attempt to pat the Clippers point guard head toward the end of Wednesday’s game? Paul wondered the same thing, saying “I’ve got a son of my own. I don’t know if Pau has kids, but don’t touch the top of my head like I’m one of your kids. I don’t know if he’s got kids, but I’m not one of them.” Orange County Register

Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Chris Paul, Pau Gasol 

"He tried to touch the top of my head. I don't like that," Paul said after the game. "I got a son of my own. I don't know if Pau got kids, but don't touch the top of my head like I'm one of your kids. I don't know what his intentions were, and it doesn't matter. I don't know if he's got kids, but I'm not one of them." When Paul was asked why he tried to touch Gasol on his head, he said, "I went back and I tried to treat him like little Chris." "You're a grown man," Paul said. "I'm not going to put my hand on top of your head. They beat us, and that's the story of the game." ESPN.com

Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Chris Paul, Pau Gasol 

"I'm sorry he felt that way," Gasol said. "I do that all the time with my teammates. It's OK. It's like if I touch your shoulder or your back. There's nothing mean about it, but it is what it is." Bryant simply chalked up the incident to Paul's competitiveness, which mirrors his, after a tough loss. "Chris is chippy," Bryant said. "I'm extremely chippy, and that DNA spreads to the rest of the team. That's how it is." ESPN.com

Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Chris Paul, Pau Gasol 

The Lakers and Rockets clearly thought the trade had been agreed upon by all parties on the afternoon of Dec. 8. So did Paul and his representatives, who had been given permission by Demps to help facilitate trades with other teams. "When you get to the point where someone says, 'Lakers, do we have a deal? Houston, do we have a deal? New Orleans, do we have a deal?' and all three teams say 'Yes.' That's a done deal," one source said. "That's the way trades in this business have been done for the last 50 years." ESPN.com

Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans Hornets, Trade, Chris Paul 

Later, Stern would suggest that the people who leaked details of the trade to the media were trying to pressure Demps and the league to take the deal. Still another source insists that at least two versions of the deal had been agreed on, and "either way there was a deal." ESPN.com

Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans Hornets, Trade, Chris Paul 

The Clippers, sources said, had been told the night before that New Orleans was probably "going to go in another direction." But since a deal still hadn't been made, the Clippers were going to keep trying. They'd been positioning themselves to make a deal like this for 18 months; essentially since the day they drafted Blake Griffin No. 1 overall in June of 2009. GM Neil Olshey had first discussed a deal for Paul with Demps in May at the pre-draft camp in Chicago. The two revisited it in earnest when they bumped into each other in Las Vegas at a college tournament on the Friday after Thanksgiving. ESPN.com

Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans Hornets, Trade, Chris Paul 

The Lakers' package, by contrast, might have kept the team competitive in the short term, but also came with long-term contract commitments that could potentially turn off prospective buyers. Demps told the Clippers that he saw their package as a set of assets. Players he could either keep, or turn into other players he'd want to keep. Demps asked for as many of those assets as he could. All of them, actually. Olshey balked at the initial asking price of budding young stars Eric Gordon and DeAndre Jordan, the unprotected first-round pick from Minnesota, second-year players Al-Farouq Aminu and Eric Bledsoe and former All-Star center Chris Kaman, who was in the last year of his contract. ESPN.com

Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans Hornets, Trade, Chris Paul 

Soon after he hung up the phone, Olshey let Demps know the Clippers would part with more of their assets. By this point, though, Demps had begun to lean toward the Lakers' deal, or a deal with the Celtics, each of which was offering more accomplished, veteran players. On Wednesday night, the Clippers and several other teams pursuing Paul began to sense Demps was heading in another direction and worried he wasn't selling their deals as hard to his bosses. The only play left was for Roeser to take the case directly to Sperling and make sure the league knew exactly what the Clippers' offer was before Paul was traded elsewhere. ESPN.com

Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans Hornets, Trade, Chris Paul 

Los Angeles Clippers star Chris Paul is planning to stay in town a while ... 'cause he's about to drop $8.5 MILLION on a sick Bel Air mansion that he's buying from Avril Lavigne ... TMZ has learned. Sources tell us ... Paul fell in love with the 12,184 square foot place, which Avril originally listed for $9.5 mil and decided he had to make a move. TMZ.com

Los Angeles Clippers, Chris Paul 

Paul, who has missed five games since getting injured last Saturday against the Lakers, was hopeful to return to the starting lineup Sunday. But it now appears his first game back will be Wednesday's rematch with the Lakers. "Chris is ready to play," Del Negro said. "He wants to be out there, but he also knows hasn't had this injury before and he wants to be smart about it and we'll hopefully get him back out here on Wednesday." ESPN.com

Los Angeles Clippers, Chris Paul, Injuries 

Paul, who strained a hamstring in the final minutes against the Lakers a week ago, has missed the past four games. But two consecutive intense workouts could have Paul ready for a return Sunday against Toronto. Saturday, Paul worked full speed through a number of drills. "Chris is a worker," Del Negro said. "You don't have to worry about that. We just have to be smart about it." Orange County Register

Los Angeles Clippers, Chris Paul, Injuries 

Los Angeles Clippers star Chris Paul is planning to stay in town a while ... 'cause he's about to drop $8.5 MILLION on a sick Bel Air mansion that he's buying from Avril Lavigne ... TMZ has learned. Sources tell us ... Paul fell in love with the 12,184 square foot place, which Avril originally listed for $9.5 mil and decided he had to make a move. TMZ.com

Los Angeles Clippers, Chris Paul, Avril Lavigne 

For Jac Sperling, who has been involved in sports for more than 20 years, it was simply part of the business. “Individuals come and go,” explained Sperling. “As great of a player and a citizen as Chris was, he was a player for this city and this team. I think our fans have really understood that our situation is not about any one player. It wasn’t about the labor situation. It was about the future of the city of New Orleans. HoopsWorld

New Orleans Hornets, Chris Paul, Jac Sperling 

“It’s bigger than any one player, it’s bigger than any business transaction and our fans totally understood that. “We all miss Chris, but he’s off to other ventures and we wish him well. We’re on to different ventures ourselves. We’re in the next phase of the Hornets and we’re looking forward to it. We’ve got some good players. We have a great coach. We have a great general manager and perhaps the best fans in the NBA.” HoopsWorld

New Orleans Hornets, Chris Paul, Jac Sperling