The Los Angeles Lakers entered the 2011-12 NBA season with a bitter taste in their mouths, swept out of the playoffs by the eventual champions, the Dallas Mavericks. Leaving an attempt at another three-peat incomplete, the Phil Jackson-less Lakers looked to enter the upcoming year retooled, now led by coach Mike Brown.
Jim Buss, the Lakers Vice-President of Basketball Operations at the time, and former General Manager Mitch Kupchak proposed a deal with the New Orleans Hornets to acquire Chris Paul in exchange for Lamar Odom while dealing Pau Gasol to the Houston Rockets to finalize the three-team deal.