New Orleans Hornets, Lamar Odom | featured news

An epic trade that would have made Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant teammates in Los Angeles was vetoed Thursday night by N.B.A. Commissioner David Stern in a decision that rocked the league just as it emerged from a five-month lockout... New Orleans would have received Lamar Odom from the Lakers, and Kevin Martin, Luis Scola and Goran Dragic from the Rockets. Martin is among the league’s top scorers, Odom is a versatile big man and Scola is a skilled and rugged power forward. In addition, the Hornets would have received the Knicks’ first-round draft pick in 2012, which the Rockets acquired in a previous trade. Houston would have received Pau Gasol from the Lakers.

Andrew Bynum had 17 points and 11 rebounds, Lamar Odom scored 16 points, and the Los Angeles Lakers survived poor games from their two biggest stars to even their first-round playoff series with an 87-78 victory over the New Orleans Hornets in Game 2 on Wednesday night.