So where does NO go from here? What trade can they, can they not pursue? Demps kept the league office updated the entire time, and then they block it at the end. Demps had the leagues blessing to trade CP3. So this is ok because the other owners don't think the trade is good enough? That's subjective. What trade is good enough? How do they make a better deal going forward? If they didn't want this, then tell NO they can't trade CP3, period. But once Demps was given the go ahead to trade CP3, then nixing the deal looks horrible.
That's one of my biggest issues. Demps had the go ahead to trade CP3. So whether or not the deal got nixed, relies on the subjective opinion of the other owners, and whether they think the deal is good enough. So what is the better deal the owners would have preferred?
You say the deal wasn't good for NO. I think it was pretty good. But these again are subjective opinions. Where is the fine print, detailing what exactly would have been acceptable in a trade? The league knew NO/LA/Hou were working out this trade, and didn't step in. If dealing with LA was a problem, it should have been cut off weeks ago, when it was first mentioned. But then what, where the list of teams NO was allowed/not allowed to pursue trades with?
You say it's a bad deal for NO, and to protect the business at large, which is the NBA, the owners have the right to nix it. How good the deal is, again, is subjective. Yet, what isn't subjective, is that the NBA gave Demps the ok to trade CP3, and did not say he couldn't deal with the Lakers, which the NBA knew about. So if this was ok by the league, and Stern, to nix the deal, then their should be a list somewhere detailing what teams NO could trade with, which imo, is even worse.