Why did the NBA veto the Chris Paul-LA Lakers trade in 2011? 

When it comes to what ifs in NBA history, Chris Paul almost going to the LA Lakers is near the top. At the start of his prime, the All-Star guard came close to joining forces with an all-time talent in Kobe Bryant.

There are many reasons why this trade ended up getting vetoed, but one of the biggest factors was the current state of the then-New Orleans Hornets. Roughly a year before this trade almost went down, the league bought the franchise from its owners.

With the Hornets being owned by the NBA, all massive decisions for the franchise would be reviewed by the league office. As Chris Paul was the team's star player at the time, trading him fell under this category.

Upon review and pressure from owners around the league, the trade ended up getting vetoed. In his response to the decision, David Stern said that the trade was dismissed because they felt that the Hornets weren't getting enough in return for Paul.

While this trade ended up falling though, a Paul trade still happened a few days later. Instead of going to the Lakers, he was dealt to LA to play for the Clippers. In the accepted trade, the Hornets received Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman, Al-Farouq Aminu and a first-round pick that later became Austin Rivers.

With Paul and Kobe being arguably two of the greatest point guards ever, many fans and analysts agree that they could have won multiple titles if they had joined forces.

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Chris Paul speaks on the NBA scrapping trade to the LA Lakers

Years removed from the situation, Chris Paul has since touched on his trade to the LA Lakers falling through. In the summer of 2023, the scrapped deal was among the things brought up on "The Pivot" podcast.

During the interview, Paul opened up about calling then-commissioner David Stern about what happened. At the time, the league had just worked out a new Collective Bargaining Agreement following a months-long lockout. Paul said that it played a role in things, as owners were frustrated with player movement in the NBA.

"I actually called David Stern one night and he was at dinner," Paul said. "This was right after the CBA had just finished, so what happened when the trade went through is that a few of the owners were mad, they said 'no, this trade can't go through because we just had this whole CBA talking about player movement.'"

Seeing that Chris Paul still ended up getting traded in the end, there were clearly other issues besides that. One of them was likely being that rival owners didn't want the two superstars on the same team in fear of a dynasty.

While things didn't work out with CP3 getting to the Lakers, he has still gone on to have a long and successful career. He came close to securing the championship that eluded him in 2021, but the Phoenix Suns fell just short against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Even without a title on his resumé, Chris Paul is still viewed as one of the best ever at his position, having passed Jason Kidd for No. 2 all-time in assists, with 12,092.

There's no denying that Paul and Kobe would have done great things together as a duo. Unfortunately for Paul, it will always be the biggest "what could have been" in his career.