When the Hornets, Lakers and Rockets returned to the negotiating table after an initial Chris Paul trade was rejected, the NBA demanded that Kyle Lowry and Patrick Patterson be included in Houston's offer.

At that point, they would finally be given Pau Gasol.

Lowry, Patterson, Kevin Martin, Luis Scola and Goran Dragic, the NBA's asking price to route Gasol to the Rockets, would have represented five of their top six players.