If you (note: Hubie Brown voice) are the New Orleans Hornets and you have a point guard under your control who is going to be a free agent in a few years, and you know that you need him to be competitive for an NBA title in a smaller market, you lock him up.

The Hornets -- despite notoriously "frugal" owner George Shinn's ways -- are doing just that, as John Reid of the New Orleans Times Picayune is reporting that Chris Paul and NOLA are getting ready to reach an agreement on a max-deal four or five year extension.

"We're going to try and get it done in the next 24 to 48 hours once I get down there,'' [Paul's agent Lance] Young said by telephone. "I think if you go back and look, there's nobody who did a three-year deal of all the max deals done in the last few years. I would say three years is not what he is going to do. It will be a four or a five-year deal.''

Paul's contract will range from $60 million to $80 million, depending on the length. Young said he and Bower spoke by telephone on Tuesday, the first day teams could begin negotiating contracts with free agents.

Let's be perfectly clear: if you are the the New Orleans Hornets, you give Chris Paul whatever money and how many ever years he wants. He is most certainly one of the top five players in the league, and while many might take Kobe or LeBron if they were starting a team, I think Paul is a legitimate candidate.

And even if you disagree, Paul was most certainly an MVP candidate last year, most certainly the reason for the Hornets resurgence and most certainly worthy of this kind of contract.