The Los Angeles Clippers reportedly want to help Chris Paul find a new team after his abrupt split with the franchise.
NBA insider Jake Fischer wrote Tuesday that he’d “been told — in strong terms — that the Clippers do want to work in tandem with Paul and his CAA representation to find him a new home.”
“The 40-year-old indicated last week that he is more likely than not to keep playing even if it means leaving Los Angeles and league sources insist that the Clippers, in a nod to Paul’s status as a franchise legend, do want to help him relocate,” Fischer wrote.
Paul, who reportedly planned to retire after a final season with the Clippers, said on Dec. 3 in a late-night social media post he had “just found out I’m being sent home.”
The Clippers announced the next morning the franchise would be “parting ways” with Paul.
“We will work with him on the next step of his career,” Clippers president of baseball operations Lawrence Frank said in a statement.
Frank told reporters that afternoon the move had “nothing to do” with the Clippers’ 5-16 start to the 2025-26 season.
“I take full responsibility for our record. We are not scapegoating Chris Paul,” Frank said on Dec. 3. “We have many issues and we are going to address each issue.”
Head coach Tyronn Lue meanwhile told reporters Paul “just wasn’t a good fit.”
Both ESPN’s Shams Charania and NBA insider Chris Haynes reported there was a split between Paul and Lue prior to his exit.
Paul went into this season on a one-year deal with $3.6 million guaranteed. The Clippers can’t trade him until Dec. 15, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
The team also couldn’t waive him until Dec. 22 due to roster minimum requirements, barring a separate trade to get below the first apron of luxury tax, per Marks.
Paul, who last played on Dec. 1, hasn’t indicated he is planning to move up his retirement timeline despite that delay. He told Haynes on Dec. 5 he is “just staying ready” for his next step.
“I’m hooping right now,” Paul told Haynes. “I don’t [know] what’s next. I’m still scarred by it all. Still processing everything. But I’m staying ready.”
Paul played five All-Star campaigns for the Clippers between 2011 and 2017. The Clippers could now look to both honor that tenure— and avoid taking on what Marks would be a $2.3 million cap hit for waiving him— by working with his representation on a trade.
More franchises might be interested in making deals for Paul after Jan. 7. As Marks noted, that’s when some teams will see roster spots open up after moving on from players on partially guaranteed deals.