In a spectacular and unprecedented turn of events, the Rockets went from a massive overhaul of their roster to a mountain of wrecked plans.

The Rockets had reached agreement on a three-team deal to get center Pau Gasol from the Lakers, sending top scorers Kevin Martin and Luis Scola to the Hornets.

Hours later, the trade that the three teams involved considered a done deal and had been the key to the Rockets' plans was torn apart when the NBA stepped in and killed it.

The league rescinded the deal, then disputed reports that it acted because of objections by NBA owners to having the NBA-owned Hornets send star New Orleans guard Chris Paul to the Lakers.

"(It's) not true that owners killed the deal," NBA spokesman Tim Frank said in a statement. "It wasn't even discussed at the Board meeting. "League office declined to make the trade for basketball reasons."

The trade was built around the Hornets' desire to move Paul before he could begin the final season of his contract, knowing he will almost certainly leave as a free agent. The Rockets would have sent Martin, Scola and point guard Goran Dragic to the Hornets along with the Knicks' 2012 first-round draft pick. In addition to the three Rockets players, the Hornets would have also gotten the Lakers' Lamar Odom in the trade.

With Thursday's stunning decision, it is unclear how the Hornets can ever deal Paul without further damaging the three teams that believed they had a trade Thursday afternoon, or to get more of a haul than New Orleans general manager Dell Demps had apparently landed.

For the Rockets, commissioner David Stern's decision scuttles plans beyond the deal itself, in addition to forcing players to report today to the teams that just traded them.

The Rockets wanted to make the trade to plug in the 31-year-old Gasol, who has three years and $57 million remaining on his contract, at center to build around him and point guard Kyle Lowry. But with the trade, the Rockets would have had $11 million of cap space and could have as much as $16 million with an amnesty cut of their next highest-paid player, Hasheem Thabeet.

They had based their free agent sales pitch to Nene on putting together a formidable front court with Gasol. Without the trade, they no longer have the cap room to make the kind of contract offer Nene is seeking. The Rockets had also hoped that with the move they could have attracted Nene and still brought back Chuck Hayes, an option greatly complicated because they now still need to find a true center.

Hayes had received a four-year, $20 million offer from the Kings and is also considering reuniting with former Rockets coach Rick Adelman with the Timberwolves. Hayes' agent Calvin Andrews said that Hayes was close to gone from Houston, but that the Rockets had been asking that he give them more time while they worked on other options.

The players traded are expected to report to the start of training camp today.

"I don't know what to say," Scola said. "I have no idea what's going. I really want to talk, but what will I say. Today is too confusing."

He said he had spoken with Rockets general manager Daryl Morey.

"I have no complaints with them," Scola said.

Martin, after hearing of the trade, even expressed appreciation for his then ended time in Houston.

"I feel blessed that Daryl and Les (Alexander) gave me the opportunity to get my career back on track," Martin said. "As always, it's tough to leave the fan support and the teammates."

He won't have to leave them, at least not now. The Rockets, however, must start over, unchanged but uncertain about how to repair the damage.

jonathan.feigen@chron.com