New York, NY

After being inundated by criticism for nixing the proposed three-team deal involving Chris Paul, NBA commissioner David Stern gave his account prior to his veto of the trade, which was reportedly labeled as not accurate.

Paul, then with the league-owned Hornets, requested a trade soon after the five-month lockout came to an end but the NBA nixed deals that would have sent the 26-year-old star point guard to the Los Angeles Lakers.

According to the Houston Chronicle, citing sources, Stern indicated in a press conference last week that he was only "generally informed about the discussions" before he disallowed the trade.

According to the Chronicle's two sources "with direct knowledge of the talks", the NBA commissioner is not being completely accurate and that his version of the events "an outright lie," according to one of them.

According to these sources, Hornets GM Dell Demps had assured Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak and Daryl Morey, general manager of the Rockets, that Stern and other NBA officials had been kept up to date throughout the process and had signed off on it.

Kupchack and Morey were reportedly very unhappy with the outcome of the initial deal.

Rockets owner Leslie Alexander was also livid about the commissioner's action, the Chronicle reported.

The Chris Paul saga finally came to an end Wednesday night when the Hornets sent the four-time All-Star to the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Clippers for their part shipped guard Eric Gordon, center Chris Kaman, forward Al-Farouq Aminu and Minnesota's unprotected 2012 first-round pick to New Orleans.

The Clippers will also get two future second-round picks.

Copyright © 2011 AHN. All rights reserved