For now, it appears that Chris Paul will not be leaving New Orleans. But for the Hornets, a star player's departure would be nothing new. The loss of Chris Paul would obviously be huge since he's not only the best player in the franchise's New Orleans tenure, but also in team history. Let's take a look back, though, at the biggest names the Hornets have lost in the past, and how accomplished they were, prior to departure. .

Random bullet-thoughts, because I started this post way back a few hours ago, but am now hilariously sleepy:

• It's interesting how closely Mourning, Johnson, and Paul all started. Johnson missed more than 30 games due to injury during his third year, and Mourning missed about 20 during his second season.
• The pace at which Paul accelerates away from Mourning and Johnson is pretty astounding (especially given that he, too, missed ~20 games as a sophomore). He took over the all-time franchise lead in win shares (from Muggsy Bogues) in just his fourth season.
• It's surprising to me that Baron Davis was only around as long as Johnson was (and as long as Paul has been now). For some reason, I recall his tenure being much longer than it actually was. Davis' departure almost directly led to the Hornets' acquisition of Chris Paul. 
• Paul's current WS value is actually better than Johnson's and Davis' combined values with the Hornets. So even though the Hornets franchise has seen quality players leave before, if Paul left, it'd be totally unprecedented.