Trevor Ariza doesn't want payback, only New Orleans Hornets playoff berth

When Trevor Ariza heard the news in August that he had been traded to the New Orleans Hornets just a year after signing a lucrative, mid-level exception deal with the Houston Rockets, there was a period of disbelief.

“In the back of your mind,” Ariza said, thinking back to the day of the transaction, “it was like, ‘For real?’ But then you get past that, especially when you get into the locker room with a group of guys who are good guys and have the same motives as you do.”

And the primary inducement for the Hornets tonight when they face Houston is collectively universal: a win qualifies New Orleans for the playoffs.

Thought to be in a rebuilding posture by NBA observers, the Hornets can earn a postseason return by beating the Rockets in the New Orleans Arena, marking an incredible turnaround. A team that had just four holdovers from last season’s team that won only 39 games has been remade through a series of trades into a Western Conference contender.

And Ariza, the first piece of the puzzle acquired in a four-team swap less than two weeks after General Manager Dell Demps became lead architect, said he’ll derive no extra satisfaction if the Hornets eliminate the Rockets tonight and punch their playoff ticket.

“Nah, not really,” said Ariza, who signed a five-year, $30 million free-agent contract with the Rockets after being part of the Lakers’ championship team in 2008-09. “I don’t even think about it, to be honest with you. I’m looking at this next game as a game we’ve got to win, no matter who it is. That’s all it is.

“There’s no hard feelings for me. I understand that it’s a business. You like who you like. Some teams like players, some teams don’t. I mean there’s nothing I can do about it. I think the most important thing is for our team to come together and play well together and beat whoever we have to play.”

The immediate payoff could come tonight against the Rockets. New Orleans enters the game with a qualifying magic number of two against Houston, which is barely alive in the race.

It’s a position in which few expected the Hornets’ to be slotted with one week remaining in the regular season and has kept first-year coach Monty Williams carefully choosing his words in recent days.

“The beauty of it is we’re in a position where we can say it,” said Williams, referring to his playoff mantra, “We’ve still got to make it.”

“We started this year, I don’t think many people thought we’d even be in this position. To be able to say you have a chance to make the playoffs is a good thing.”