Sports : NBA - Chris Paul traded to Lakers in three-team-deal

The Los Angeles Lakers have agreed to surrender Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom in a trade for New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul, sources tell ESPN.com's Marc Stein.
Sources close to the process tell Stein that the Houston Rockets remain part of the talks and are trying to complete a deal that would send Gasol to Houston and the Rockets' Luis Scola, Kevin Martin and Goran Dragic to New Orleans, along with Odom.
In Paul, the Lakers would be getting an All-Star and U.S. Olympic Team member who has averaged 37.1 minutes, 18.7 points and 9.9 assists a game in his six seasons.
Paul can opt out of his current contract with New Orleans after this season, and the Hornets have been fielding trade offers in an effort to acquire new players for the star guard rather than letting him walk in free agency.
Paul averaged 15.8 points and 9.8 assists last season.
The Rockets, who lost Yao Ming to retirement, covet Gasol, while the Hornets do not, increasing the likelihood Gasol won't stay in New Orleans, a source told ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher.
Furthermore, the Rockets have young talent the rebuilding pieces Hornets general manager Dell Demps wanted in a trade for Paul, namely, young talent such as Martin and a protected future first-round pick Houston acquired from the New York Knicks. The Hornets would look to acquire that pick as part of the proposed deal, the source told Bucher.
Speaking earlier Thursday, Hornets president Hugh Weber said the franchise has been preparing for months for the possibility that Paul would resist signing an extension in New Orleans, a move that would all but force a trade.
"We've been preparing for this moment for over a year and it's not like we were surprised or caught flat-footed," Weber said. "This is not a surprise. This is not something where we've been sitting around waiting to see what would happen. We've been managing this and taking control of the situation as best we can and we're going to have a team that we believe achieves that objective of making this community proud."
While he never said publicly that he wanted to play in a larger market, he did say before last season that he wants to play for a team that has a chance to contend for a title right away -- something he should get when he joins Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.
The Hornets have been owned by the NBA since last December, when the league bought the club from founder George Shinn.
Despite the lockout and uncertainty over Paul's future, fan support has been building in New Orleans, where the team has advertised their season-ticket drive as an effort to lure a permanent local buyer who is committed to keeping the team in Louisiana.
The Hornets have increased their season ticket base from a little more than 6,000 last season to just over 10,019 as of Thursday afternoon.
Owners and players ratified a new collective bargaining agreement Thursday, the final step to ending the five-month lockout and paving the way for training camps and free agency to open Friday.
There was hope in small markets like New Orleans that after the lockout it would be easier for teams to hold on to their biggest stars. However, that apparently is not the case.
If this deal is approved one of the NBA's biggest stars from the league-owned small-market Hornets will be moving to one of the NBA's largest, richest markets.
Paul was drafted by the Hornets fourth overall out of Wake Forest in 2005.

New trade agreement may mean more domestics sold in South Korea

In 2010, domestic automakers shipped about 7,500 vehicles to Korea, representing less than one percent of its auto market. To add insult to injury, well over half a million Korean cars were sold here. But that could all change, according to Ford CEO Alan Mulally, who told The Detroit News that a new trade agreement "will open new opportunities for Ford to reach even more Korean customers."

The U.S. - South Korea Trade Agreement was approved by Congress on October 12, while President Obama welcomed President Lee Myung-bak of the Republic of Korea to the White House yesterday.

The United Auto Workers also praised the move, which reduces both Korean and U.S. tariffs. South Korea will immediately cut its tax on U.S. cars from eight percent to four percent, and fully eliminate the tariff in the fifth year of the agreement. The U.S. will continue to tax Korean cars at 2.5 percent until the fifth year, when the tariff will be eliminated. Korea will also eliminate its 10-percent tariff on trucks immediately, while the 25-percent U.S. tariff on trucks will be phased out during the eighth to tenth years of the agreement.

Perhaps more importantly, the agreement also includes a provision to address differing safety and environmental standards. Domestic automakers will now be able to sell vehicles in Korea without certifying them to Korean regulations, under certain limitations. U.S. companies that sell fewer than 25,000 vehicles in Korea will be required to only meet U.S. safety regulations. And as long as American cars are within 19 percent of South Korean standards for fuel economy and emissions they will be considered legal for sale.

NBA : Nets close to landing 'Melo in three-team trade

The New Jersey Nets were close on Sunday evening to acquiring All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony from the Denver Nuggets in a three-team deal with the Detroit Pistons, but are still looking to get a commitment from Anthony and his camp on a long-term contract, according to two league sources.

The deal would send Anthony, along with guards Chauncey Billups and Anthony Carter, along with center Shelden Williams, to the Nets. Detroit would send veteran Rip Hamilton to New Jersey. The Nets would send guard Devin Harris, rookie forward Derrick Favors, guards Anthony Morrow, Stephen Graham, Quinton Ross and Ben Uzoh, along with two first-round picks, to the Nuggets. New Jersey would send center Johan Petro and forward Troy Murphy (and his expiring $12 million contract) to Detroit.

Talks continued Monday, a person with knowledge of the discussions told The Associated Press. The three teams negotiated over the weekend and the source said the deal was "advancing.''

Anthony refused to discuss a potential deal before the Nuggets played New Orleans in Denver on Sunday night. He said afterward he didn't think a 96-87 loss was his last game in a Nuggets uniform.

"Uh-uh, not at all," he said, repeating the phrase "not at all" four times.

Asked if that was an indication he wouldn't sign the extension so the trade with the Nets could be consummated, Anthony demurred, saying: "I haven't heard anything. Only, that it's just been speculation as of right now."

Anthony noted that team executive Josh Kroenke and general manager Masai Ujiri "are not even here, so I don't see that happening."

In what time frame was he referring to?

"I'm just saying I don't see it happening right now," Anthony said.

This week sometime?

"No."

The potential savings for Detroit -- Hamilton has two years and $25 million left on his deal -- combined with the opportunity to break up the backcourt logjam that has plagued the team for two seasons makes the deal irresistable for the Pistons. Trading Hamilton would allow the team to, finally, move Ben Gordon into the starting lineup instead of splitting mintues with Hamilton.

The Pistons don't want Petro, though, and are looking for New Jersey to route him somewhere else.

Billups and Hamilton were the starting backcourt for the Pistons team that won the 2004 NBA title and remained teammates until Detroit traded Billups to his hometown club for Allen Iverson.

Billups said he didn't know if a trade was imminent, either.

"I don't know nothing new, so I can't tell you nothing new," he said.

The Nets were close to acquiring Anthony during the preseason, but a four-team deal that included Utah and Charlotte fell through. Talks progressed recently with the inclusion of Detroit.

Anthony can become a free agent next summer. He has refused to sign the contract extension the Nuggets offered him last summer.