Before you go off and blame CP3 for being the no-good, horrible backstabber behind all this, let’s be clear: If he’d said Tuesday what his agent said Wednesday, he’d have been fined heavily by the NBA. That’s why he offered another denial on Thursday. It’s against the rules for players to openly request trades, so in this case, Chris Paul’s just playing by the NBA’s rules. And that’s really the theme to this story, in general.