NBA takeover of Hornets keeps Chris Paul in New Orleans, for now

This just in: Chris Paul won’t be leaving New Orleans!

At least not on his original schedule, forcing a trade to the Knicks to join Amare Stoudemire and free-agent signee Carmelo Anthony, which CP3 tossed into his toast at Melo’s wedding last summer.

Perpetually-looking-for-a-home George Shinn no longer owns the Hornets. The NBA does.

Commissioner David Stern mused the franchise is “worth” $300 million — which isn’t what he’s paying with more than $100 million in debts.

Not that this means The NBA Model Is Broken, as Stern insists it is going into labor talks.

If it were, he really would have contracted ... as he once suggested he might with the Hornets in mind.

This is about avoiding a fire sale with prospective buyers spooked ... by Stern’s dire forecast of a labor stoppage.

New improved Hornets

One way or another, this will produce a viable new franchise ... wherever it may be.

Already subsidized by the state of Louisiana, the Hornets, Stern suggests, need more — on the level of what the NFL Saints get.

Of course, the Saints are beloved.

The city barely knows the Hornets are there. Attendance is so low they may soon be able to opt out of their lease, becoming ... drumroll ... free agents!

With a new CBA and more “inducements,” the Hornets would be more attractive ... be it there or Seattle, Las Vegas, Kansas City or Anaheim.

In any case, Stern will be in charge, not Shinn whose frantic flight from Charlotte brought the NBA back to the No. 42 market (pre-Katrina).

This time the Hornets aren’t going anywhere without a state-of-the-art arena, inducements, et al.

Don’t forgetyour carpet bag

So Shinn, the NBA’s boll weevil who never found a home, winds up with a pot of gold?

Next to that, bailing out mismanaged banks looks heartwarming.

Shinn who wrote a book called “Good Morning, Lord!” and then acknowledged an affair with a cheerleader, wore out Charlotte officials with demands for a new arena after having led the NBA in attendance in their first nine seasons, left for New Orleans, took refuge in Oklahoma City after Katrina and had to be forced into returning by Stern.

Dubious proposition that it was, Shinn went back to New Orleans, and doing what he always had, running the franchise into the ground.

Stern just returned the favor, cashing him out.

In the good news, the !@#$%$#@! is gone.

Fastbreaks

What Stern didn’t want: Despite bumper prices in the recent sales of the Wizards and Warriors, the nightmare franchise-devaluing scenario was Bob Johnson’s sale of the Charlotte Bobcats to Michael Jordan for an announced $275 million.... Insiders say most of it was the debt MJ assumed, putting up less than $50 million in cash.

Latest from the prolific pen, er, keyboard of Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert, tweeting after the Heat routed his team: “Words don’t express my feelings so I won’t even try. Know this: There’s nothing U are feeling that I’m not. The best B-Ball player ever once said: ‘My pain was my motivation.’ And so it will be with us.”... It would have meant more if anyone took Gilbert as seriously as he takes himself.