CHRIS PAUL TO THE CLIPPERS!

Carmelo Anthony wanted to play with Chris Paul, but now Blake Griffin will get to take passes from one of the NBA's most electrifying talents for the next two seasons.

"We'd love to have him,'' Griffin said on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, a Paul-Griffin tandem became a reality when the NBA, which owns and runs the Hornets, finally found a deal to its liking. After killing a Paul trade to the Lakers and having the Clippers reject the league's high demands earlier this week, the NBA and Clippers agreed to a deal that sends the face of New Orleans' franchise for the past six seasons to L.A.'s No. 2 team.

The Clippers agreed to send scorer Eric Gordon, center Chris Kaman, forward Al-Farouq Aminu and Minnesota's unprotected 2012 No. 1 pick to the Hornets. The Clippers did not want to part with Gordon and the No. 1 pick, which could be a top five selection in June in what is already being touted as a very deep draft. But the league made it more palatable by having the Hornets send two second-round picks back to the Clippers.

Paul will play for the Clippers for at least the next two seasons. Although he could have become a free agent this summer, he has told the Clippers that he will exercise his option to play for the club next season at $17.7 million. This season, he'll earn $16.6 million.

And so ends the soap opera that dominated the NBA's headlines after the lockout. Paul started camp requesting that he be traded, with his No. 1 preference to come to the Knicks. But the Knicks did not have the young players or draft picks required by the league to get Paul, so they instead engineered a sign-and-trade to get Tyson Chandler from Dallas to anchor their middle.

The Celtics also tried to get Paul, but he sent word that he would not sign long-term to play in Boston. In addition to New York, Paul told the Hornets he would accept a deal to either L.A. team. That's when all the fun started. The Hornets agreed to a deal to send Paul last week to the Lakers for a package of veteran players. In that deal, the Hornets were going to ship Pau Gasol to the Rockets for Luis Scola, Kevin Martin and Goran Dragic, along with a No. 1 pick. They would have also gotten Lamar Odom from the Lakers.

While it was hailed by many NBA GM's and scouts as a good deal for the Hornets, commissioner David Stern stepped in and killed the deal, demanding that the Hornets had to get younger players and draft picks in return. The Lakers couldn't come up with the necessary trade parts and pulled out of the sweepstakes, with Stern and the league taking a PR bath.

Once it saw its Staples Center neighbors out of contention, the Clippers didn't waste a second in making an offer. But they pulled out the hunt, saying that the league's main targets — Gordon and the No. 1 pick from Minnesota — was too steep. In the version of the trade that went through, the Clippers are not sending the Hornets guard Eric Bledsoe, who was part of the first trade proposal.

"This is a good deal for the Hornets,” said one Eastern Conference scout last night. "They get some good young talent and if they want to move Kaman to a contender for more young talent, this might allow them to do it.”

Already taking a PR beating as it was deciding where one of its most talented players would go, the league also faced the prospect of being sued by Paul for collusion, sources told the Daily News Tuesday.

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