Rival executives will continue to try to convince the Hornets to make Chris Paul available in trades, pointing to the fact that Williams can simply slide the promising Darren Collison and his modest $1.4 million salary into that spot. When those teams get shot down, look for the Hornets — based on the hints we’ve received from more than one exec — to make Collison available as long as the interested party is willing to take back the cap-clogging contract of Emeka Okafor,James Posey or Peja Stojakovic with Paul’s backup.

Everyone’s talkin’ ’bout Tony Parker as a trade target, how’s about the much cheaper Darren Collison with Okafor thrown in as center?  Particularly since New Orleans wants to cut costs they’d be interested in Eddy Curry, unlike San Antonio.  We’d still be able to sign two max free agents, or one and keep David Lee with money left over.

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