"The trade proposals sound like something you'd hear from an irrational Los Angeles Lakers fan after a bad loss in December.

Blow up the team. Trade Pau Gasol for Chris Paul. Trade Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom for Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglu. Maybe there's a way to package Luke Walton, Steve Blake and Metta World Peace for another all-star in his prime.

After all, when it comes to superstars playing for the Lakers anything is possible. Let's not forget, this is a franchise that traded Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie and draft picks for Pau Gasol and got Kobe Bryant for Vlade Divac straight up.

While Lakers fans try to pre-order their purple and gold Howard and Paul jerseys today, something interesting his happening across town. The other team in Los Angeles is positioning themselves to make an equally big splash in the market and upstage the Lakers.

If Howard and Paul do end up playing together next year in Los Angeles, they're going to be playing for the Los Angeles Clippers, not the Lakers. "