Former NBA commissioner David Stern granted Sports Illustrated’s Chris Ballard a wide-ranging interview (insofar as an interview with Stern can be wide-ranging), and despite telling the writer he hasn’t written a memoir because that would be “too self-important” and “I don’t do war stories,” he spun one cocksure narrative that all but declared battle against a still-active NBA general manager.

It began with a question from Ballard about Stern’s oft-criticized decision to veto a trade that would have sent then-New Orleans Hornets star Chris Paul to Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers in 2011, an unprecedented ruling that drew heavy criticism at the time and altered the league’s history forever.

“I didn’t do a great job of explaining it at the time,” Stern told Sports Illustrated. “There was a trade that [New Orleans general manager] Dell Demps wanted us to approve and I said heck no, but he had told [Rockets GM] Daryl Morey and [then Lakers GM] Mitch Kupchak he had authority to do it and he didn’t. I said no. We just settled a lockout and you want me to approve a basketball trade?”

What was David Stern’s explanation at the time?

The NBA cited “basketball reasons” for the veto in 2011, when Stern clarified his stance in a statement:

“Since the NBA purchased the New Orleans Hornets, final responsibility for significant management decisions lies with the commissioner’s office in consultation with team chairman Jac Sperling. All decisions are made on the basis of what is in the best interests of the Hornets. In the case of the trade proposal that was made to the Hornets for Chris Paul, we decided, free from the influence of other NBA owners, that the team was better served with Chris in a Hornets uniform than by the outcome of the terms of that trade.”

Leading up to the post-lockout agreement, according to Marc Stein, then of ESPN, “the commissioner insisted for months that Hornets general manager Dell Demps and the rest of the team’s front office had autonomy over basketball decisions. Sources close to the situation said Demps and teams that have pursued Paul had been assured the Hornets had the clearance to trade Paul as they saw fit.”

Details of the deal were well-documented at the time. Paul, who had informed Demps that he did not intend to re-sign with the Hornets in 2012, was bound for the Lakers, with All-Star Pau Gasol going to the Rockets and a package of bona fide NBA contributors in Kevin Martin, Luis Scola and Lamar Odom headed for New Orleans, along with a 2012 first-round pick from the New York Knicks (via Houston).

Looking back, that’s not such a bad deal for a soon-to-be free agent star. Martin and Scola averaged a combined 42 points per game for the Rockets the previous season, Odom was coming off a Sixth Man of the Year campaign, and the Knicks pick landed just outside the lottery, where any number of future foundational players were still on the board (and the Rockets eventually gambled on Royce White).

Today’s equivalent of that deal might be something like a three-team deal that would send Eric Gordon (2018 Sixth Man of the Year), Lou Williams and Danilo Gallinari (38 combined points per game last season) and a mid-first-round pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves for soon-to-be free agent Jimmy Butler.

In an email to the commissioner following the nixed deal, Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert called Stern’s actions “a travesty” and called for a vote from the league’s 29 other owners, all of whom had a stake in the Hornets after the NBA purchased the team for $300 million in December 2010.

But Stern did settle a lockout and approve a basketball trade

Instead, Stern soon approved the trade that days later sent Paul to the Los Angeles Clippers for Gordon, 2010 All-Star Chris Kaman, 2010 lottery pick Al-Farouq Aminu and the 2012 first-round pick that became Austin Rivers. That deal probably worked out best for New Orleans, if only because Gordon got injured, Kaman’s production fell off a cliff, Aminu wasn’t ready, and the Hornets were bad enough to land Anthony Davis with the No. 1 pick. Neither trade is really worth writing home about, since Paul continued his ascendance en route to one of the greatest careers ever for a point guard.

‘Dell Demps is a lousy general manager’

Story continues