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Chris Paul’s NBA future is up in the air after surprise end to his Los Angeles Clippers tenure.
As the other, less appealing side of Chris Paul comes into more frequent view —his talent and general worth no longer drowning out the pricklier parts of his personality — there are some basic facts to consider.
His All-Star and MVP vote-earning days solidly in his rearview mirror, the “Point God” has now played for four teams in these last four seasons. And after his unceremonious middle of the night firing by the Los Angeles Clippers this week, thoughts in NBA front offices are turning toward the identity of a potential fifth team in what the 40-year-old Paul has already stated will be his final year.
According to Heavy Sports sources, a number of teams are “kicking the tires” on a move for the 12-time (but not since 2021-22) All-Star, but finding the right fit could be difficult for both the team and a player looking to maximize his opportunity to compete for a championship.
“You have to have a unique situation to do it,” one league executive told Heavy. “You’ve got to be a team that thinks, ‘Hey, man, we’re one guy away. We can deal with the other stuff that comes with it.’ Your team has to have strong internal discipline already. You’ve got to be able to accept the whole CP3 experience.”
The Chris Paul ‘Experience’ Includes His Outspoken Nature: ‘That’s Part of What You Get With Him’
That “experience” includes Paul’s outspoken nature and penchant for stating opinions that can rub some teammates and, as was reportedly the case with the Clippers, management the wrong way.
“That’s part of what you get with him,” said one front office source. “But on the court you can be getting an experienced guy who knows how to play in big situations. We looked at him after all this came down, but it wasn’t a long discussion. I could actually see him fitting with a team in the East, because that’s so wide open. I think he could help a team like Orlando or maybe Detroit, where he could take some of the pressure off Cade (Cunningham).
“But you have to first figure out whether you’re even able to get him with your (salary) cap situation and what you’d have to do with your roster to bring him in. Then you have to look at what you have for chemistry and all that — how strong your coaching situation is, how the players would react to another strong voice.
“We have a guy who played with him who I think put it best: ‘Chris Paul is an acquired taste.’ He’s not everybody’s cup of tea.”
‘There’s Always a Tipping Point on Tolerance’
In his later years, with Father Time taking at least some toll on his game, it has thus been easier for clubs to opt for a different beverage.
“The greater the talent, the greater the tolerance,” one exec told Heavy. “But there’s always a tipping point on the tolerance. At some point, it just gets to be enough… or too much.
“I can see teams looking at him now. There’s teams I believe he could really help. He could still be an important player on a good team, but he’d have to be willing to accept the role that team needs from him — and with Chris, you have to wonder about that. And if he’s not bought into what you’re doing — and clearly he wasn’t with the Clippers — then at a certain point, nobody wants to deal with it. Nobody wants to hear it. It becomes problematic. And Chris has been trending that way for a while. His most recent episodes in the league have not been successful in terms of how he’s fit.
“But the bigger part of me finds it hard to believe that this is going to be the way he leaves the game. Can’t be. For his sake, I just hope he finds the right situation — or more that the right team finds him.”
Steve Bulpett has covered the NBA since 1985, the first 35 of those years as beat writer/columnist for the Boston Herald. In that time, he has gained National Top 10 honors from the APSE as a columnist, beat reporter and features writer. Since 2014, he has served as a vice president of the Professional Basketball Writers Association. More about Steve Bulpett
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