LOS ANGELES – A blockbuster multiplayer deal that will send Hornets star Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Clippers was submitted to the NBA on Sunday, ESPN reported Monday, citing a source.
The revised deal apparently could have been finalized, but the league, which owns the Hornets, wants the Clippers to add their point guard Eric Bledsoe to the return package, the source claimed.
The Los Angeles Times earlier had reported that Bledsoe was part of the deal being worked up late Sunday.
The newspaper said the second-year guard would be sent to New Orleans along with Clippers center Chris Kaman, second-year forward Al-Farouq Aminu and the No. 1 pick in the 2012 draft.
The ESPN source agreed with that lineup, but said Clippers guard Eric Gordon was part of the package rather than Bledsoe. A league source later told Yahoo! Sports that Gordon was not part of the revised deal.
The Times report, which cited two sources familiar with the discussions, said late Sunday that Clippers owner Donald Sterling and the NBA still had to sign off on the deal and the league was reportedly not likely to review it until Monday.
If the move comes to fruition, Paul -- considered one of the NBA's top point guards -- will play alongside Clippers All-Star Blake Griffin in one of the more mouthwatering combinations in the league.
The Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night pulled out of the three-team trade that would have seen them get Paul.
The Lakers, Hornets and Houston Rockets had been working over the weekend on a reconfigured version of the trade that NBA commissioner David Stern controversially nixed Thursday.
In a statement issued Friday, Stern said the league's decision, since it owns the Hornets, was in the "best interests" of the team from a basketball standpoint.
The Hornets are trying to trade Paul because the 26-year-old has made it apparent he will not sign an extension, and is set to become a free agent at the end of the season.
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