Chris Paul plus James Harden equals weird and awesome

There are a million ripples emanating from the Rockets’ blockbuster trade for Chris Paul. But the most important part is right at the core: Houston is going to be weird and awesome.

Mike D’Antoni unleashed Harden as a full-time ball-handler last season after Harden had been a brilliant playmaking two-guard his whole career. That resulted in outrageous numbers and a second MVP close call in three years. Now Daryl Morey adds the single best on-court conductor of his generation to the mix. What happens now?

The Rockets are going to challenge the all-time offensive efficiency record. Last season’s version finished No. 10 all-time per B-Ref, while the Warriors nearly won the all-time mark. With two incredible point guards -- both of whom can shoot, on a team with other shooters -- Houston should be as good if not better than Golden State on that end. CP3 and the man he replaces, Patrick Beverley, both made the All-Defense team. One expects, however, CP3 to draw more defensive effort out of his team. That’s never been a D’Antoni hallmark, but expectations are roaring high right now.

What’s going to be weird is seeing how CP3 approaches the locker room, from where we’ll only get peeks. CP3 has never not been the best player on his team. In fact, there appeared to be a little friction in Los Angeles when Paul treated Blake Griffin like just another guy and not a peer. Harden is better than CP3. Does Paul know how to turn off his captain voice? Do the Rockets want him to? It’s going to be interesting to see how those personalities fit together.

The mechanics of the CP3 deal are fascinating. It looked impossible for Houston to carve out the necessary cap space to sign him ... so Morey convinced him to opt in and the Clippers to trade him. Brilliant! Morey also traded for a bunch of fringe NBA players with non-guaranteed contracts to help smooth this trade and perhaps another.

Another, you say? Yep: the Rockets want to add Paul George or Carmelo Anthony to the mix. Houston’s issue is that it doesn’t have the assets to compete with other suitors for P.G., and the Knicks are not going to buy out Melo, leaving his no-trade clause a major hurdle.

I got so excited to see CP3 and Harden together from reading these D’Antoni comments from Amick and Zillgitt. Zach Lowe’s piece -- which has a good bit of news nugget action in there -- was awesome as well. Always read John Schuhmann when a big deal goes down. Here’s David Aldridge on the making of a powerhouse in Houston.

Double Zillgitt! Enjoyed his jam on how the CP3 trade and Phil Jackson dismissal are signs of a league still run by superstar players.

Here’s an argument that the Clippers should now say goodbye to Griffin from Michael Sykes. I tend to disagree! More later. Suffice it to say that this move has major implications for Griffin’s future, to say nothing of the Clippers’ future.

WHAT DID THE HOOPERS KNOW AND WHEN DID THEY KNOW IT?

The clear biggest winner of the CP3 trade? Jackson and the Knicks. The trade broke a couple hours after the Knicks announced they had parted ways with Jackson, distracting us all for a minute. Thus ends a disturbing era that will probably be followed by another disturbing era, because this is how things work under James “Jimmy” “J.D.” Dolan.

The Knicks want to pry Masai Ujiri out of Toronto. Ha. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Wait ... the Raptors are actually a little nervous? This isn’t a complete and total pipe dream? Masai, you don’t have to do this!

The Triangle is dead! No one is happier than Jeff Hornacek.

Well, except maybe Jason Concepcion. And also Dan Devine.

The next big shoe to drop: Gordon Hayward. He’s meeting with just three teams as of now: the Heat are up first on Saturday, followed by the Celtics and Jazz. It appears Hayward will travel to each city in order; this seems to give Utah a decent home court advantage if the Jazz do it right.

The Kings are going to make Bogdan Bogdanovic the best-paid NBA rookie ever with a 3-year, $36 million deal. (He escapes the rookie scale because three years have passed since he was first drafted by Phoenix.) Here’s what Sacramento might be getting.

The Blazers had Fun On The Internet after trading Tim Quarterman for cash considerations. Everyone had Fun On The Internet with DeAndre Jordan jokes after the CP3 trade. Knicks fans had Fun On The Internet after the Zen Master’s reign of horror ended. This has been your daily installment of Fun On The Internet.

Uh, Mark Deeks wrote a mammoth free agency preview. I’m going to need a few hours.

Big news for people into this type of action: New Jersey’s sports gambling case is going to the Supreme Court. The NBA has recently supported highly regulated legalized sports betting.

Damn cool collection of former Dirk Nowitzki teammates on what a great teammate Dirk Nowitzki has been.

And finally: Klay Thompson gets to be his truest self while dancing to EDM in China.

Happy Thursday.