Image

Image Credit

Jim McIsaac / Contributor via Getty Images.

Image Alt

Carmelo Anthony #7 and Chris Paul #3 of the Houston Rockets in action against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center on November 2, 2018.

Image Size

landscape-medium

Key Takeaways

Carmelo Anthony believes Chris Paul’s legacy deserves more respect after the point guard was ousted from the Los Angeles Clippers mid-season.
Paul announced plans to retire at the end of the 2025-26 NBA season after a 21-year-long career in November.
Anthony warns NFL star Russell Wilson and the NBA’s DeMar DeRozan and Anthony Davis are on the same exit path as Paul.

Carmelo Anthony says there is no respect in the Los Angeles Clippers’ decision to part ways with Chris Paul. The mid-season ouster gob smacked NBA fans and players on Tuesday (Dec. 2) as the Los Angeles legend is only four months out from retiring after 21 years in the league.

Paul returned to the team this summer on a one-year contract. He previously dominated Lob City from 2011 to 2017, playing alongside basketball stars like Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, James Harden and Kawhi Leonard. With the shot clock winding down, the point guard and franchise had a few options: waive him and pay out the $3.6 million salary, terminate the contract early with a buyout or trade him later this month. They chose to waive him, marking an unceremonious end for CP3.

The former Denver Nuggets standout addressed the fallout during the Wednesday (Dec. 3) episode of “7PM in Brooklyn Postgame.” “It’s sad to say, but when you go through it, you see it happening, you see it snowballing slowly,” Anthony said. “It’s a couple guys that’s in the league that I see it starting to happen to. The CP situation — it’s a f**ked-up situation.” The Syracuse University alum leaned on his experience bouncing around the league before his final season in 2022. He retired the following year.

“This is the dark side, the f**ked-up side of the sport. I know a lot of people say Chris Paul is older, but you still don’t do that. You should treat that with a level of respect because now you playing with somebody’s legacy. It ain’t about wins and losses right now. I should have enough respect for you and your legacy not to let you go out like this,” the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee explained.

Carmelo Anthony warns other NBA and NFL stars are on Chris Paul’s path

Anthony predicts that New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson, Sacramento Kings forward DeMar DeRozan and Dallas Mavericks big guy Anthony Davis, who each made headlines for trades this past year, will be pushed out of their respective sports leagues, too. “This s**t pisses me off … It’s happening to Russ, it’s ‘bout to happen to DeMar DeRozan, it’s about to happen to all of these n**gas … The next trade that AD have, it’s going downhill from there. This is what’s ‘bout to happen. So, it’s unfortunate that that trend — I understand it — but the way that our legends of the game get treated is f**ked up,” he said.

Farewell tour or not, like Paul, all three of those men have proven that their legacies were built over decades-long careers, not a single trade, buzzer-beating play, or the final teams of their professional careers. Their greatness is solidified, and the history book will not be rewritten.