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Chris Paul’s NBA career is over after 21 seasons, and the way he went out is going to be remembered for quite some time.
Officially, Paul retired last Friday, shortly after his release by the Toronto Raptors. However, his last game was months ago with the Los Angeles Clippers, who signed him for his final season in the NBA, then benched him, sent him home and traded him to Toronto.
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In an appearance on his friend Carmelo Anthony “7PM in Brooklyn” podcast filmed last weekend, Paul addressed the circumstances of his Clippers exit. The podcast only posted part of the interview on social media as of Tuesday night, but Paul’s comments painted a picture of a relationship that went from friendly to contentious at rapid speed.
As Paul tells it, he reached out to both Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank to signal his interested in finishing his career in Los Angeles, where he was a five-time All-Star during the prime of his career.
The reunion made for a nice story. No one expected Paul to replicate his old numbers with the Clippers, but at worst he could give them depth at point guard while supplying veteran experience, cementing his legacy as one of the franchise’s greats and playing near his Los Angeles-based family.
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It was apparently going according to plan at one point in the season, as Paul claimed Frank praised his leadership:
“Earlier in the season, Lawrence Frank sent me an article about how great my leadership was, an article I had never seen. He texted it to me saying, ‘Man, this is great leadership right here.'”
However, as we learned in the aftermath of Paul’s benching, there were apparently some major communication issues involving Paul and Lue. The pair reportedly clashed over Paul’s attempts provide his own guidance to members of the team and were allegedly not on speaking terms by the end, though Lue has denied that latter part.
Paul, however, confirmed that some members of the Clippers organization didn’t want him giving players advice:
“During training camp, I talked to one of my teammates for a while and then, as soon as I went in the meal room, somebody came and told me they didn’t want me giving players advice. So I told them, ‘You were my assistant coach, I know you.’ But it was a lot of back-and-forth.”
Paul is likely referring to Lue with that “I know you” line, as Lue was an assistant on the Clippers coaching staff during Paul’s first tenure there.
Chris Paul’s second tenure did not go as well as his first. (Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images)
(David Jensen via Getty Images)
When the subject of the Clippers retiring Paul’s jersey number came up — which would be highly awkward anytime in the near future — Paul said that Frank actually said his number should be retired … before dropping the axe. He also indicated Frank neglected to set up a meeting with Lue, indicating there might be something to the reports they weren’t talking:
“[Frank] said that to me before he sent me home … Before I left the room, I asked him, ‘So L-Frank, you said you was gonna get me a meeting with T-Lue, right?’ He said, ‘I’m sorry, I couldn’t do that. Go home.'”
There’s no telling what Paul’s relationship with the Clippers will be going forward. The team posted a tribute video for him after he announced his retirement, so there might be a willingness to bury the hatchet on their side already, but no one’s going to blame Paul for keeping them at arm’s length as long as the current leadership is in place.
