Huge day for sports in greater Los Angeles. The Angels signed Albert Pujols to the second-biggest contract in baseball history and the Lakers traded for Chris Paul — only to see the NBA commissioner kill the deal.

But being “big news” doesn’t mean also mean it is “good news.”

One of these stories is bad news. The other is worse.

Let’s start with the “worse news” story.

That would be the Angels giving Albert Pujols a 10-year, $254 million contract.

The Angel just committed a quarter of a billion dollars to a man who will be a few months shy of his 42nd birthday at the end of the deal. And Pujols may be older than he claims; he was born in the Dominican Republic, where birth certificates often are works of fiction. It is entirely possible that Pujols already is 32 … or 33 … or 34.

As good as he is, and by looking at his numbers we can see he was the best and most consistent hitter in the first decade of the new millennium, the Angels have committed $254 million for 10 years of a player that will include most or all of his “decline phase” — the inexorable fade that grips all baseball players as they advance into their 30s — and reach the big Four-Oh.

If injuries and ineffectiveness take hold, he may not even be playing in 2021. Or 2020.

Worse, Pujols’s decline phase may already be here. He is coming off what clearly was his poorest regular season. His on-base percentage was by far the least impressive of his career (down 48 points in a year). His OPS also was off, his doubles were down, and he failed to knock in 100 runs for the first time.

He had a very nice postseason, a period the Angels probably prefer to focus on. And they will be quick to remind you that he had a broken bone in his left wrist during the regular season, and may not have been quite healthy for weeks after his return. But he has had other seasons with fewer at-bats and put up better numbers.

Also, he should have remained a Cardinal. He was in the organization for his entire career, until today … and he ought to have gone the distance with them. He could have gotten the Stan Musial treatment; now, he’s just another guy who took the extra $30 million or so (about 12 percent of the total deal) and walked. Couldn’t his agent have figured out a way to make up the cost with endorsements in St. Louis, where he had been treated like a god? How much of that extra $30m will go to California income tax?

Pujols will never be loved in Angel Stadium as he was in St. Louis. The Angels just acquired a fallen hero.

(Fair to imagine the business at “Pujols5”, his restaurant in St. Louis, will tank. Understandably.)

I understand the Angels’ desire to make a difference now, and I see how they should be able to extend his career by using him as a DH — occasionally, now; a lot, later.

Even with Pujols’s stats softening of late, he still is very very good and ought to be for the next three, four, five years. And maybe no one in the organization is worried about being around for the final five years of this deal — when the Angels are paying $25 million a year for a guy who may be done, or very close to it.

I just think the contract is too long. And pays too much money for a half-decade when Albert Pujols will no longer be that Albert Pujols.

Taken in tandem with the huge payout to left-hander C.J. Wilson (perhaps the biggest baseball contract ever to go nearly unnoticed), which is $77.5 million for five years and another contract too long (for a pitcher) … the Angels just blew up the approach to the game that made them contenders nearly every year this century.

They had demonstrated that intelligent and prudent spending, development of their own players, hoarding of pitching … could make a team competitive for a very long stretch of time. Now, they need to win. Soon.

As for Chris Paul …

I was convinced that a Lakers trade for him was not a good idea, mostly because of his injury situation. He has a bad left knee, which cost him half of the 2009-10 season, and he is coming off his worst season, when he seemed to baby his leg. I wasn’t crazy negative about a trade, but I thought the Lakers would have to give up too much for a guy with a bad wheel.

But once the Lakers had cobbled together a deal, and announced it … David Stern’s decision to kill the deal hours later makes it a poisonous turn of events.

Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, two players the Lakers now need to be fully engaged if they plan to make a run for a championship, were going to be gone in the deal, and they know it … and who knows what it might do to their heads? Odom already has said he may not show up to the first day of Lakers practice.

Gasol and Odom are professionals, and they ought to get over it … but, still, the idea that “I would be gone if not for David Stern” adds a dark undercurrent to the Lakers season, and with Kobe Bryant now 33, the Lakers can’t afford many more seasons with tension built into the roster. Kobe’s shelf life could expire at any moment.

An up side to acquiring Chris Paul, 26, would have been the presence of a superstar (if he could stay healthy) to bridge the gap between the end of Kobe’s elite status, and the acquisition of another unique player. Paul could have served as the lightning rod for the accretion of other great players — which now seems to be required, in the NBA.

Another up side: He could have relieved Kobe of some of the ballhandling responsibilities, allowing him to remain fresher, longer — while significantly upgrading the Lakers’ weakest position, point guard.

Now? It’s almost imperative for the Lakers to work another Chris Paul deal (one that passes NBA muster) … or that they acquire Dwight Howard while moving Gasol and Odom.

Otherwise, this could be a weird season … and the Lakers can’t afford one of those right now.

A big news day in L.A. … but not a good news day.