The Lakers’ attempts to acquire All-Star point guard Chris Paul of New Orleans in a three-team trade with the Hornets and Houston Rockets has collapsed, multiple outlets have reported tonight. ESPN.com is now reporting the Lakers will instead trade Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks into the trade exception created when Tyson Chandler was traded to the New York Knicks. Not sure what the Lakers get in return. Or whether it’s part of a bigger deal with another team. Buckle up, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

UPDATE: Unidentified team executive tells Yahoo Sports the Lakers will turn their attention on acquiring Dwight Howard from the Orlando Magic, which makes sense.

Unidentified source tells the Los Angeles Times that the Odom deal was a straight salary dump, which is a bit of a head-scratcher.

Pau Gasol practiced with the Lakers today for the first time in training camp, but perhaps for the last time in his career. He acknowledge the awkwardness and also the uncertainty surrounding him, what with the proposed three-team trade re-submitted to the NBA. Gasol sat out Friday because of a strained right quadriceps.

Lamar Odom did not attend the practice in order to undergo his physical.

Question: What it’s been like for you the last few days?
Gasol: “It’s not been easy. Mentally and emotionally, it’s a hard situation to deal with because the situation is out of your control. Even knowing that it’s still hard. You come in and you’re excited about a new challenge, a new season, a new coaching staff, pretty much the same teammates. Obviously, all these talks are on. It was very close to happening two days ago. They got stopped for some reason, but if the NBA hadn’t stopped it I would be gone. I wouldn’t be here.
“It’s tough to keep your balance. At the same time I’m happy it hasn’t happened because my heart is here, my mind is here. I want to be here. That’s the reality. I heard it was back on the table again. Everything is possible again. So, I guess I have to be patient and whatever happens, hopefully, it’ll happens quick, so I can adjust to the idea, to either idea, whether it’s staying here and preparing myself for a very challenging season full of goals and exciting. Or a change in scenario, the whole thing.
“I haven’t been able to reach Lamar. I’m sure it hasn’t been easy at for him either. He has been here longer than I have. You try to make the city you play in your home, but it’s hard to do it because once you get established and comfortable and settled, anything can happen. It’s part of the business, as we know. It’s always hard.

Q: What’s it been like in practice with a new coach?
“I’ve always been a committed and respectful person, and I will continue to be. From what I know, I’m here and paying attention to every detail. I had a lot of fun today being able to practice with my guys. Hopefully, I’ll have a chance to do it again tomorrow.”

Q: In Houston, they kept Kevin Martin and Luis Scola out of practice today, what went into the decision for you to practice?
“Because I love to. This is what I love to do. I’ve been through so much here. We won two championships in 3 1/2 seasons. I was looking forward to winning another one, making another run. So, I love practicing with my teammates. It was hard for me to sit down with my quad and just watching and sitting. Today, I wanted to try it and I was able to go and practice without too much soreness.”

Multiple reports indicate the Lakers’ three-team deal with the New Orleans Hornets and Houston Rockets that would send point guard Chris Paul to Los Angeles is back on. It has been re-submitted to NBA commissioner David Stern, the de facto owner of the Hornets. The league bought the team from George Shinn last season and has been running it.

More details soon.

The Lakers announced today they have signed free agent 3-point specialist Jason Kapono and draft picks Darius Morris and Andrew Goudelock. Kapono’s deal is for one season at the veteran’s minimum for a little more than $1 million. Kapono, a former UCLA standout, gives the Lakers the 3-point threat they have lacked in recent seasons.

UPDATED: The Lakers also signed Chris Daniels, a 7-foot center, Zach Andrews, a forward, and Elijah Millsap, a guard who is Paul’s brother.

Daily News sports columnist Vincent Bonsignore wrote this breaking item on Lakers Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol out of El Segundo, where the team is practicing. We are posting it so you’ll know the latest on the two players who are part of a rumored trade:

By Vincent Bonsignore, Daily News Staff Writer

EL SEGUNDO — Lamar Odom came to the Lakers training camp on Friday at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, met with Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak and left shortly after.

Pau Gasol also came to the practice facility but did get out on the floor, one day after he and Odom appeared destined to be part of a three-way trade that would have brought point guard Chris Paul to the Lakers.

Gasol would have been shipped to Houston, which would have sent Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Goran Dragic and a first-round draft pick, along with Odom, to New Orleans.

Within hours of the trade reportedly being agreed upon, NBA commissioner David Stern vetoed the deal Thursday.

In a statement released Friday, Stern said the “final responsibility for significant management decisions lies with the commissioner’s office in consultation with team chairman Jac Sperling.

The Lakers are suppoed to practice until 2 or 3 p.m., at which point the Lakers will be available to the media. Stay tuned as to whether Odom or Gasol have anything to say.

The NBA released the following statement today from commissioner David Stern on his reasons for vetoing the Lakers’ trade for Chris Paul on Thursday:

“Since the NBA purchased the New Orleans Hornets, final responsibility for significant management decisions lies with the Commissioner’s Office in consultation with team chairman Jac Sperling. All decisions are made on the basis of what is in the best interests of the Hornets. In the case of the trade proposal that was made to the Hornets for Chris Paul, we decided, free from the influence of other NBA owners, that the team was better served with Chris in a Hornets uniform than by the outcome of the terms of the trade.”

Here’s what NBA commissioner David Stern said in an interview this morning with Bloomberg: “The decision was taken that Chris Paul in New Orleans was more valuable than the trade that was being discussed. I don’t want to speak on the basketball side, but that particular one was weighed against Chris Paul’s continued presence in New Orleans.”

So, he used his authority as the de facto owner of the Hornets to block the deal? Or was he acting as the commissioner? Furthermore, does he intend to block any and all trades for Paul in the future? If so, how does that make the franchise stronger if Paul ends up leaving as a free agent at the end of the season and the Hornets get nothing in return?

Here’s a copy of Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert’s email to NBA commissioner David Stern, first obtained by Yahoo Sports. It leaves little doubt that at least one owner asked Stern to veto the deal, contradicting the league’s official statement that the trade was not blocked by owners but by the league office for “basketball reasons.”

Commissioner,

It would be a travesty to allow the Lakers to acquire Chris Paul in the apparent trade being discussed.

This trade should go to a vote of the 29 owners of the Hornets.

Over the next three seasons this deal would save the Lakers approximately $20 million in salaries and approximately $21 million in luxury taxes. That $21 million goes to non-taxpaying teams and to fund revenue sharing.

I cannot remember ever seeing a trade where a team got by far the best player in the trade and saved over $40 million in the process. And it doesn’t appear that they would give up any draft picks, which might allow to later make a trade for Dwight Howard. (They would also get a large trade exception that would help them improve their team and/or eventually trade for Howard.) When the Lakers got Pau Gasol (at the time considered an extremely lopsided trade) they took on tens of millions in additional salary and luxury tax and they gave up a number of prospects (one in Marc Gasol who may become a max-salary player).

I just don’t see how we can allow this trade to happen.

I know the vast majority of owners feel the same way that I do.

When will we just change the name of 25 of the 30 teams to the Washington Generals?

Please advise….

Dan G.

Multiple outlets are reporting now that the NBA, which owns the New Orleans Hornets, has pulled the plug on the proposed three-team trade that would have sent Chris Paul to the Lakers, Pau Gasol from the Lakers to the Houston Rockets and Lamar Odom from the Lakers to the Hornets. The league has owned the team since George Shinn sold it last season, creating a sticky situation in which deals would have to be approved by the NBA.

Last season, now retired coach Lakers coach Phil Jackson predicted big problems when it came time for the Hornets to make a trade with Paul. Jackson accurately pointed out the possibility that the league would be criticized by unhappy suitors if Paul were to be dealt. Paul can become a free agent at season’s end and the conventional wisdom suggests it would be smart for the Hornets to trade him rather than have him walk away without gaining anything in return.

“Wow,” Paul tweeted within the last 15 minutes.

The Lakers will get Chris Paul, settling their point guard issues, but will lose Pau Gasol to the Houston Rockets and Lamar Odom to the New Orleans Hornets. The Hornets also will get Luis Scola, Kevin Martin, Goran Dragic and a first- and a second-round pick. The Lakers also could be getting big man Emeka Okafor from the Hornets, which would address the losses of the 7-foot Gasol and the 6-10 Odom.

The deal can’t be finalized until the official end of the lockout Friday at 11 (PST).

It’s a huge deal anyway you look at it, but particularly if the Lakers move ahead and attempt to acquire Dwight Howard from the Orlando Magic for Andrew Bynum and perhaps another player or two. Howard would give the Lakers a dynamic presence that Bynum gave them on occasion, but not as consistently as the team would have liked.

This is the first time the Lakers have overhauled their roster after a playoff loss. They traded Shaquille O’Neal to the Miami Heat after the Detroit Pistons defeated them in the 2004 NBA Finals. It took time, but a re-tooled roster led by Gasol, Bynum, Odom and Kobe Bryant reached the Finals three consecutive seasons and won two titles.