With most of the NBA still in shock over the dramatic last-second veto of a proposed three-way deal between New Orleans, Houston and LA that would have sent Chris Paul to the Lakers and Pau Gasol to the Rockets because of "basketball reasons", the teams involved are still committed to making this deal happen:
ChrisMannixSI Chris MannixFrom what I'm gathering neither HOU or LA is opposed to tinkering with the deal, but they have not been told who NO can trade.
The Rockets have a huge collection of interesting young players, with seven prospects with less than three years in the NBA -- Marcus Morris, Donatas Motiejunas, Terrence Williams, Patrick Patterson, Jonny Flynn, Chase Budinger and Hasheem Thabeet -- that might help sweeten the deal from New Orleans' perspective.
However, it appears the real issue is that some small-market owners don't want Paul to go to Los Angeles regardless of what players the Hornets get back, so there may not be much Houston can do about it.