The news stories today are that Chris Paul has demanded, through an intermediary, to be traded to the Knicks. The initial gasps of columnists were, of course, the Knicks have nothing to trade! They have no assets! While these claims are all technically true, they are besides the point. As I have outlined before, the only way a trade gets done with the Knicks and the Hornets is if Paul unequivocally states that he will not sign with anyone else (he will not do this, it will hurt his brand and Paul is not known for taking daring moves). In such a scenario, New Orleans hand will be forced and the Knicks lack of tradable assets will mean very little.
However, let us just contemplate what a sign and trade might look like between the Knicks and Hornets if there was a desire to exchange equivalent assets.*
First, we must look at the relevant rule that limits how much money the Knicks can take on, i.e. can they go well over the cap? The relevant rule in question states:
"Teams above the cap (which the Knicks are) cannot acquire more than 125% plus $100,000 of the salary they trade away. There is no lower limit—teams may divest themselves of as much salary as they wish in a trade." (Source wikipedia)
What this means is that the Knicks, if they were trading for Paul alone ($16,359,805), could not give away any less than $13,187,844 in return (125% + $100,000). This is relevant, because the Hornets are going to look to divest themselves of salary most likely (give away more salary than they take on) because if this trade happens, you can be sure they will be divesting themselves of more talent and thus they need to make it good for them in other ways. It is important to note that Chauncey Billups, a guaranteed part of any trade, makes more than this by himself. So, in order to divest themselves of the maximum amount of money, New Orleans is going to look to also get rid of a 2+ year contract of a player who is not a regular contributor.
The only one on their roster that currently fits that description is Quincy Poindexter. He only makes 1.1 million a year, but he is the only other Hornet with 2+ years left on his contract other than Trevor Ariza. I would assume that Ariza would be part of the Hornets future, but I will entertain a trade with him as well in this analysis. On the Knicks side, you would have to assume that the Hornets will go after the Knicks only remaining tradable assets: Landry Fields and Toney Douglas.
First Potential Trade
Chris Paul Chauncey Billups
Quincy Poindexter Landry Fields
Toney Douglas
$17,513,605 $16,134,512
This trade fits into the rule and would be successful. From a talent perspective it is not as lopsided as one would think. Poindexter is a throw in, but for the 2011-2012 season the gap between Chauncey Billups and Chris Paul is diluted somewhat by the addition of Fields and Douglas. One would also assume that future draft picks and cash consideration would be included in this trade.
Second Potential Trade
Chris Paul Chauncey Billups
Trevor Ariza Landry Fields
Toney Douglas
Ronny Turiaf
Renaldo Balkman
$23,150,445 $22,439,512
While this trade works, according to the rules, New Orleans fails to shed any salary and really loses out on a talent standpoint. This trade would never happen, even with Paul's insistence on only signing an extension with the Knicks.
If one would have to guess, the only scenario possible is that Paul leverages New Orleans to pull the trigger on trade #1. Outside of that, there would have to be a 3rd team to make this happen. Given the vast possibilites of a 3rd team at this point, I will not even discuss any of those possibilities.
*This analysis will of course change once the Knicks begin signing free agents after December 9th this year, thus giving them more assets.
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