Disclaimer: As much as I'd like to be, I'm no NBA FO rules guru (yet), so there may be some serious fallacies to this idea.

One thing I've noticed throughout the entire Chris Paul bonanza has been an extreme focus on the short term outlook: next season's playoff opportunity, roster re-shuffles, and contract issues, etc. The outstanding issue surrounding Paul is his availability - will he sign long-term? Perfectly understandable - after all, the risk associated with a trade like this is about as harrowing as it gets.

But here's where I see the Warriors now: a PG with All-Star potential, a snubbed All-Star, high volume/mistake prone scorer who currently lacks the basketball IQ to step his game up, a bunch of mis-used role players, and zero quality picks in future drafts stocked with potential and future.

For the sake of this conversation, I wanted to bring up a scenario that has yet to be really touched on yet still remains in the what-if arena of possibilities. How would everyone feel about renting Paul for one season, and then having the leverage to not only be able to trade a large expiring, but flip a super-star PG for high first round picks right before the most stacked draft since Lebron's year? Or maybe not even for picks, but for other quality players?

It might cost us Steph and Klay, but the return for the Warriors could far outweigh what Paul alone could offer us.

Any ideas/thoughts?

(photo courtesy of dubzfan from about 5 months ago)

via cdn2.sbnation.com