I'm of the opinion that the Hornets are royaly hosed and at some point they will have to use their one asset - Chris Paul - to get out from under their bad contract (Peja) and grease their skids out town.  If that's the case, the bidding will be fierce and before the Eton Thomas trade - I could see this offer to the Hornets winning the day:

To the Wolves

PG Chris Paul - $13.76M

SF Peja Sojakovic - $13.92M

To the Hornets  (pre-thunder deal)

PG Ricky Rubio (assume just the rights, unsigned)

PF Pekovic  (unsigned rights)

C Eton Thomas $7.35M

SG Quentin Richardson $8.70M

PF Brian Cardinal  $6.50M

2010 Utah 1st round pick (protected)

2010 Charlotte 1st round pick (protected)

I think most teams would not have been able to match the wolves ability to provide 3 big expiring contracts - That also saved the Hornets $5M the day the trade is made (within the 125% + $100k trade rule).  The hornets could also save another $2M-$5M by buying out all 3 wolves.  The trade also provides a legitimate star replacement to Paul in Rubio, a nice cheap prospect in Pekovic and two #1 picks - granted they aren't lottery picks but the Wolves aren't allowed to give away their own pick till the Clips are out of the picture.  Being able to dump Peja would be huge for the Hornets since they could probably still get some value and savings trading Chandler straight up to another team. 

Before the Thunder deal, I had trouble coming up with something that didn't force the Wovles to dump a 1/3  of their roster on the Hornets - not ideal for either team.  Now after the Thunder deal, I'm back to that same problem... or am I?

To the Hornets Post Thunder deal

PG Ricky Rubio (assume just the rights, unsigned)

PF Pekovic  (unsigned rights)

SG Quentin Richardson $8.70M

PF Brian Cardinal  $6.50M

2010 Utah 1st round pick (protected)

2010 Charlotte 1st round pick (protected)

PG Chucky Atkins $3.5M  (only $760k guranteed)

SG Damien Wilkins $3.3M

So the deal is still in the 125% range, so still valid.  The Hornets save another $600k the moment the deal is made, and another $2.85M when they opt out of Chucky - and the number of players changing rosters is the same as the previous deal...

Is Kahn doing everything possible to save the Hornets as much as possilble to land Paul?