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362 days ago, Dell Demps traded Chris Paul for Luis Scola, Lamar Odom, Goran Dragic, Kevin Martin, and Houston's 1st round pick. 362 days ago, that trade was then vetoed.
I was firmly against the trade at the time, arguing that it'd leave New Orleans semi-competitive and in no position to engage in the necessary full-scale rebuild to contend again. If the Hornets hadn't lucked out with Anthony Davis, this might well be a debate still raging today, but thankfully it's not.
The Hornets play the Lakers today, and so it's as good a time as any to check on how the pieces of that original trade are doing.
Lamar Odom
Status: Crashed and Burned
It's hard to say whether Odom's career would've carried on normally if the original trade had never happened. But ever since the veto, Odom's been on a stunning downward trajectory. After posting a -26 offensive rating in 50 games last year, he's down to -28 this year with the Clippers.
Luis Scola
Status: Middling
Scola was a decent player when the trade happened, but I hated the years and dollars he still had remaining on his deal. He's currently a -1 offensive rating player, soon to be 33 years old, and still due $13M+ through the next three years.
Goran Dragic
Status: Balling
His current +13 offensive rating is going to come down as the season goes on, but Dragic is pretty clearly a top-half NBA point guard and a fun one to watch. Still, he too will be 27 by the end of the season, and if the original trade had actually gone through, it was no guarantee that he would've re-signed with New Orleans over this past summer anyway.
Kevin Martin
Status: Also Balling
Martin's an elite role-player, but there's no question his stats would be far worse with Greivis Vasquez and Al Farouq-Aminu by his side in place of Russ Westbrook and K. Durant. His deal expires at the end of the season.
The Draft Pick
This was one of the main reasons I despised the Lakers deal -- the Hornets got virtually no young talent or good draft picks back, per Adrian Wojnarowski's reporting of it. The draft pick Houston included belonged to New York; even going into the year, it was pretty clear they'd be a middling Eastern team and likely out of the lottery. The Knicks finished with the 16th pick (Royce White).