Chris Paul Rumors

None of it is surprising, he insists. Gilgeous-Alexander counts Chris Paul as one of his earliest mentors. In his first season in Oklahoma City, Paul told him: You know you are starting to do things when you go to other arenas and they boo you. “That’s very true,” says Gilgeous-Alexander. Let the crowds complain. Let the talking heads gripe. To Gilgeous-Alexander, it’s just evidence he’s doing something right. “Everybody in the history of the NBA has an arc where everyone loves them, and then everyone hates them,” says Gilgeous-Alexander. “LeBron James was hated, and look what he’s done for the game? It’s part of the game. I love it. It’s stuff I dreamed about as a kid.”

Sports Illustrated

You shared a tribute to CP on IG about his retirement news. How did you process all of that? DeAndre Jordan: “It took me a while to really accept that he retired. He was such an impactful person on my career and the trajectory of my career. So nobody can tell me anything bad about CP. That’s one of my brothers. We played together for some years.” “We also are extremely close friends. I’m happy for him. If he’s at peace with his decision, I’m happy for him. I wish it would’ve ended a lot differently. I’m sure a lot of people do. But at the end of the day, things happen for a reason. He’s a first ballot Hall-of-Famer. He’ll be wearing a jacket someday. I’m just happy that I was able to be a teammate of his. He’s one of my best friends.”

essentiallysports.com

Law Murray: DeAndre Jordan has shared a tribute to the recently retired Chris Paul prior to Jordan’s visit to LA with the Pelicans

Twitter

Chris Paul on NBA career: I’ve done way more than I had ever dreamed of. Like straight up because in my dream it was about basketball, right? And throughout this career, I did learn so much more about life, about being a parent. I remember when you (Dwyane Wade) were leaving Miami. We were on the boat. Wade: We were on a yacht. Let's get that right. Cuz a boat is a little smaller than a yacht. Paul: You're right. It was a nice one too. But we were on there and I never forget us talking about it and we were like man, they don't appreciate you. They tripping. I remember even just seeing your face trying to even think about going to another team. You let him off the hook at one point, like giving him a discount. You know what I'm saying? But that's just cuz you're straight Miami. When I came into the league, of course everybody hopes that they're gonna have a career like Dirk, Kobe... Wade: One team and all that.

YouTube

Kenny “The Jet” Smith is giving Chris Paul his flowers -- and already mapping out his next move! TMZ Sports caught up with the "Inside The NBA" cohost over All-Star Weekend … and Smith didn’t hesitate when talking about CP3’s recent retirement from the NBA -- saying he has a résumé that speaks for itself. “Chris Paul is one of the greatest point guards to ever play,” Smith tells us. “He deserves his retirement, he deserves his flowers. I've known him since high school, I’ve known him since Wake Forest. I'm excited for his next chapter in his career -- he's going to make a great NBA coach.”

TMZ.com

Paul announced his decision on Friday, just shortly after the Toronto Raptors released him following a three-team trade with the Clippers at the deadline. And if Smith has it his way, that next chapter starts ASAP. “You better coach, Chris! You better coach a team!” Smith said. “You can do exactly what Jason Kidd did: leave a plan and the next year be a head coach somewhere.”

TMZ.com

Pelicans Film Room: “First ballot Hall of Famer... Greatest point guard I ever played with... He helped the trajectory of my career. The words can't even describe what he has done for me, not only as a teammate but as a friend" -- DeAndre Jordan on Chris Paul

Twitter

Chris Paul: "How did I know this was the right time? Well, when all that stuff happened, I trained, workout—obviously I was in Atlanta—came home. I had a whole bunch of my family in Atlanta for that game. My brother happened to be there, a few of my homies. So then we flew back and I was working out and training and I talked to a few of my friends and I was like, ‘Man, I’m going to give myself a deadline. You know, if I’m not on a team by a certain point, then All-Star, you know, I’ll be done with it.’"

YouTube

Chris Paul: “I can only—I have to—I had to laugh in that situation because for so long I sort of let everybody just sort of tell my story, you know, and you try to stay above everything and let people say this, say that in all these different situations. And for the most part, I don’t usually comment on it, you know what I mean? But at a certain point, you can’t let people play in your face. They can’t play with your name and don’t disrespect that. So, I wasn’t cool about none of it. About none of it. But luckily, I got a support system, a family, and all that stuff like that."

YouTube

Chris Paul: "I’ve learned how to adjust and know when to say something, know when not to say something. Most of my teammates—when that thing happened with the Clippers—why I don’t really talk to nobody, but I talk to Kawhi about every week. You know what I’m saying? If I was that bad, why I’m talking? A great great dude at that man that just love hoop be working. Don’t do why like that? Why be talking all the time? But um yeah, it was just a real interesting situation, man.”

YouTube

Chris Paul: "So, with that dialogue (with the Clippers) and all that, I mean, early in the season, Lawrence Frank sent me an article about how great my leadership was (laughs). An article I had never seen. He texted it to me saying, ‘Man, this is great leadership right here.’ So, it was just interesting situation because I was extremely grateful. You saw I was emotional when I absolutely when I went back and I returned because first of all, all the love that the fans showed, but the thing that made me emotional, I knew it was going to be my last year and I was getting to play in front of my family. Right. And that’s what it was all about.”

YouTube

But when people hear the Clippers, right, probably the first player that pops in their head is you, right? How did it get to that point? Like what—where it ends so just abruptly?” Chris Paul: “I still was grasping, you know what I mean? Trying to figure out how it got to that. I believe in communication, talking, you know, and yeah, man, it was wild. I’m not a hoarder of information, right? And so to have teammates come and ask me like, ‘Yo, see, ironically, like, how you stay so healthy?’ I played 82 games. I had teammates asking me that during training camp. I talked to one of my teammates for a little while, and then soon as I went in the mail room, somebody came and told me they didn’t want me giving players advice like that. So that was interesting to me because I told them, I was like, ‘You were my assistant coach. I know you,’ like, but it was just a lot of back and forth—this, this, and that.”

YouTube

7PM in Brooklyn: Melo: "Daryl Morey came in the room & told me my services are no longer needed ... that plane was gone without me." CP: "I got a plane for me, Melo and my wife ... I wasn't gonna let them embarrass my dawg." This moment Melo & Chris Paul had while in Houston shows how brotherhood is bigger than hoops 🫡

x.com

Draymond Green: A lot of people say because Chris Paul didn’t win a championship, he is not a winner. When you compete against him what he did with teams, was one of the ultimate winners you just need so much luck and things to go your way in order to win a championship. But man CP3 is one of the ultimate winners, incredible to compete against him, incredible to call him a friend, just to play a part of his career and not that I played a part of making his career, but being a competitor in his career and helping as he built his story. Was incredible to watch

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