11:13 am: Paul clashed with members of the Clippers’ organization as a result of his leadership style, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link), who hears from sources that the team felt the veteran point guard had become “disruptive” in his efforts to vocally hold players, coaches, and front office members accountable.
Former Clippers guard Lou Williams made similar comments earlier in the day during an appearance on FanDuel’s Run It Back show, noting that Paul was attempting to hold players and coaches accountable and “had some criticisms” of the Clippers’ front office (Twitter video link).
According to Charania, head coach Tyronn Lue and Paul hadn’t been on speaking terms for several weeks. Haynes, meanwhile, reports (via Twitter) that Paul asked to meet with Lue a few weeks ago to discuss allegations that he had been a negative presence for the team and the Clippers’ coach refused to meet with him.
6:51 am: The Clippers have put out a statement announcing that they’re “parting ways” with future Hall-of-Famer Chris Paul, who signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract with the team over the summer for what will be his final year in the NBA.
NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link) first reported the news at around the same time Paul posted an Instagram story that reads, “Just found out I’m being sent home,” accompanied by a peace-sign emoji.
“We are parting ways with Chris and he will no longer be with the team,” Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said in a statement to Law Murray of the Athletic. “We will work with him on the next step of his career.
“Chris is a legendary Clipper who has had a historic career. I want to make one thing very clear. No one is blaming Chris for our underperformance. I accept responsibility for the record we have right now. There are a lot of reasons why we’ve struggled. We’re grateful for the impact Chris has made on the franchise.”
Sources confirm to Murray that the decision to part ways with the Clippers wasn’t Paul’s and wasn’t initiated by him.
A 12-time All-Star who made five of those All-Star appearances during his first stint with the Clippers from 2011-17, Paul returned to Los Angeles for his age-40 season in the hopes of providing his former team with some reliable depth behind star point guard James Harden.
However, the season hasn’t gone as planned for Paul or the Clippers, who are off to a miserable 5-16 start. The 21-year veteran averaged just 2.9 points and 3.3 assists in 14.3 minutes per game across 16 outings as a Clipper, shooting 32.1% from the floor. He fell out of the rotation for several games in November and has only returned in recent weeks as L.A. deals with a handful of injuries to key players.
Despite the apparent split between the two sides, the Clippers are unlikely to waive Paul anytime soon unless he agrees to a buyout. The team is currently operating just $1.28MM below its first-apron hard cap and doesn’t have the ability to sign a free agent to a prorated minimum-salary contract until January 7.
Since L.A. is carrying just 14 players on its standard roster, waiving Paul would drop that number to 13 and would require the club to get back to the 14-man minimum within two weeks. Given those roster and cap limitations, the Clippers will likely wait until Paul becomes trade-eligible on December 15 and explore the market for him at that time, assuming he’s not open to negotiating a buyout.
According to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (Twitter link), the Knicks have discussed the idea of targeting Paul in a trade to add point guard depth. New York is dealing with a hard cap of its own and would need to send out at least a minimum-salary player in order to accommodate Paul, who used to be represented by Knicks president of basketball operations Leon Rose when Rose was still a player agent.
As Murray writes, this development with Paul represents the latest instance of the Clippers unceremoniously divorcing from a key figure of their “Lob City” era. Back in January 2018, the team traded Blake Griffin to Detroit just a few months into his new five-year, maximum-salary contract with L.A.
Luke, if the NBA minimum salary is $1.15MM for a player with no years of service, why couldn’t the Clippers promote a two way player like Kobe Sanders to a prorated standard contract? Could they also sign a G league player with no NBA experience, if they have their eyes on someone from another franchise that is not currently on their NBA roster that is excelling?
Kobe Sanders is the one player who works. A rookie free agent counts toward the tax/apron at the same rate that a veteran free agent would (known as “tax variance“), so signing a rookie free agent wouldn’t be doable. But tax variance wouldn’t apply to Sanders since they drafted him instead of signing him as a free agent, so he would fit under the hard cap.
Still, I’m skeptical that’s the plan here. They have him on a very team-friendly two-year, two-way deal right now, and he’s nowhere close to reaching his games played limit yet. I’d be surprised if they’re in any rush to promote him and waive Paul, especially since trading CP3 in a couple weeks might put them in position to fill both the 14th and 15th roster spots instead of just swapping in a new 14th man.
Thank you for the explanation. Your knowledge of procedures and cap is truly mind blowing.
Appreciate that. And thanks for the question — I sometimes gloss over possibilities like the Sanders one because not every team up against a hard cap has a workaround like that one, but I do think promoting him would become a far more viable option for the Clippers if they can’t find a Paul trade they like right away on Dec. 15.
Yes and yes and who cares imo
This was approved by Aspiration.. or just sweep it under the rug and look the other way?
Sounds like Paul read Lue the riot act because he couldn’t stand losing.
Or he got butthurt about him criticizing his front office buddies. Or perhaps Harden and/or Kawhi couldn’t take the heat and the organization couldn’t stand the thought of holding one of its “stars” accountable for once.
I get it can be grating to have a player with a small role trying to hold others accountable, but when your team is underperforming to this extent you need to take responsibility as a collective unit. Whatever Lue and/or the players have said publicly, this basically confirms they’ve done anything but.
Cp3 has been long known as being annoying both on court and behind the scenes, he isn’t a player-coach, but acts like he is. That would be grating on a head coach, like he is literally coming for your job in front of you. I would have don’t the same.
Lue is the worst coach and this just proves it.
Kerr is 100X worse than Lue. He should have 8 rings right now and shouldnt have chased KD off or told Poole to say that to Draymond.
Doc Rivers coaching tree…
I wouldnt want to watch James Harden dribble, after wasting 2 years with him doing the same previously, either
Dude was up 2-0 in the Finals before his coach sabotaged him, then he has been used weird the last 2-3 years. Hope to see him end up somewhere he can be used right, especially if he is ending his career, and contribute the way he definitely still can
Off the top of my head, maybe Dallas, Orlando, Houston, Denver, Milwaukee probably a couple of others I haven’t thought about could make some sort of sense for him
Mavs. It is a no-brainer. Minnesota could use help at that position as well.
I thought about that, but they have Mike Conley, and DD, and could probably use more help on the wing than at guard
If the Heat didn’t have Davion Mitchell, Chris Paul would be great in that spot. Should have traded for him multiple times
The T Wolves could use another productive guard but Paul is less productive than even Conley. The only thing he really offers at this point is mentoring but Conley and Ingles provide that and I imagine far less grating than Paul.
Nope. Mavs love Ryan Nembhard and Paul can’t fit in their cap.
Yeah, I posted that before I watched Nembhard last night. He looked good. His defense may be an issue at the elite level, but he is an offensive force.
I see said the Blind Man who picked up the Hammer and Saw!!!
No wonder why Harden is putting up Big Numbers, his team stinks
He doesn’t do that when the team is good!
I had no idea the Clippers were 5 and 16
Well Lue was fired and 24 hrs later this happened, CP3 probably trying to hold the star players accountable which they didnt like so out the door he goes. Whole team needs to be tore down,
Umm, Lue hasn’t been fired.
Read a bunk headline that he was let go. So maybe him and CP3 were butting heads.
Regardless I don’t think the Clippers seem salvageable, they have decent players too but for some reason they can not mesh and the lack of future 1st rd picks puts the team in bad spot.
Yes, Lue is definitely still employed.
If they fired Lue he’d already have a new job lol
With who
Is this a serious question?
Doug Christie is a head coach in the same state.
Not exactly a class move by Clippers
He’s getting paid.
But not as much as the Boardman, over or under the table. So if they butt heads, guess who goes?
Paul’s personality has always been grating, but it always came with results, or was needed to maximize a younger player’s potential. But clippers don’t have a Deandre Ayton or SGA (or even wemby) to take tips/guidance from Paul, and he doesn’t bring much to the playing floor.
I’m waiting to hear the story of how he blew up on somebody because of the clippers pitiful season, and this is the route taken, instead of player (or coach/FO) accountability.
Because watching that team, lots of folks need to be sent home. Starting with Leonard and harden.
“results” = no rings
Nope.
Because that’s the only gauge of a player. Well, at least now we know Robert Horry blows Steph Curry out the water
Goalpost moving? You? Really?
You can go ahead and not put words in my mouth on this “Oh you like pancakes? Then you gotta HATE waffles!!” crud. Thanks.
When it comes to THE GREATS OF THE GAME, rings matter when ranking those guys. Yes, you are wrong if you disagree with this.
Rings do matter, amongst many other accomplishments. However “rings = no results” clearly evaluates a player’s career solely on rings. No one’s putting words in your mouth, I’m interpreting what you said. but if you intended more nuance, you gotta say that. Because the HOF might disagree about Paul’s results
CP3 is a HOFer, but the NBA HOF is huge and lets in anyone. He isn’t a winner in any way, shape or form. Winners go over non-winners. Steph will always be known as being the superior player to Russ, CP3 and Harden for this reason. And it makes sense. It’s way easier to ball-hog for a decade on a nothing team than it is to play with a group at the highest level possible for 82+ games.
Bill Russell must be the goat then. Not MJ or Bird or Kobe or Lebron and definitely not Curry.
“rings = no results” -Davey J
Incoming goal post moved comment to make Curry look like the goat.
@MogaDoesntKnowBall
I literally destroyed this asinine goalpost moving and whataboutism, just above. Learn from me instead of hating.
“If you love pancakes, you must hate waffles” = worthless interpretation. Bad faith arguing. You immediately lose when you lie on someones words like this. You are saying an entirely different thing to what is being argued. Lying.
Grow up.
lmao!!
“yes you are wrong if you disagree with me on this.”
What an excellent debater you are.
I think we found Skip Bayless’ burner account everyone, because the “rings matter” argument is such an outdated take. I bet you think wins matter for pitchers in baseball, too.
This isn’t the 1990s where half the teams were hot garbage and a player like MJ could pile up the jewelry. Teams are deeper, smarter, and the overall talent level in the league is light years beyond what it was back in the day. CP3 simply never had championship-level supporting casts around him, to no fault of his own.
There is no debate here, its facutal? People who love debating are annoying. I spit facts and want to learn more so my analysis gets better. I do this here and on social media.
Also, did you literally compare winning an NBA championship to pitcher wins? Cope cope cope cope LOL. Tell me your fave team/player has never won a title without telling me, why dont you – LOL. What a clown…
Most of the Eastern conference has been hot garbage SINCE the 90s.
Scumbags like you are denigrating the importance of the one thing every NBA player plays for, just so you can make some insane argument like CP3 is better than Curry. Grow up, you were wrong then and remain so. These are facts, not up for debate.
YDKB.
He’s 40 and fat.
I’m guessing…
1. They’re sending a clear indicator that they are tanking from this point of the year.
2. Paul was probably grating on Lue and/or Harden to the point that continuing was untenable.
The last player I can really recall this happening with was Melo on the Rockets, who ironically enough Chris Paul was a member of that team.
Tanking makes no sense with OKC having their first round pick.
The Celtics owned the Nets picks 10 years ago and that didn’t stop them from tanking those years. Sometimes you just need to take your medicine.
The point is they are not going to win a championship with this roster and should be selling every veteran for assets that will improve the team moving forward, not trying to fight hard (missing the window to trade said players), just so that OKC gets the #12 pick instead of #5.
That still makes no sense. I consider myself a Javelin anti-tank missile since I cannot root for my teams to do that even though my teams include the Jets and the Nets. Regardless, there’s no incentive to anyone in the Clippers organization to do it. The players and coaches in an organization never have any incentive to do it (at least not legally). The front offices in the Jets’ and the Nets’ cases do since they control their own picks. The Clippers have an unprotected pick swap with the Thunder as the last vestige of the PG-13 trade. The Clippers have every incentive to make the playoffs and stay out of the lottery.
“The Clippers have every incentive to make the playoffs and stay out of the lottery.”
Not if doing so costs them moving forward.
The time to trade John Collins (27M expiring), Brook Lopez (9M expiring), Bogdan Bogdanovic (16M expiring), etc is now.
They may never get another chance to trade James Harden for the value he would bring in today.
It is ludicrous to be worried about another team’s draft pick. The Clippers don’t have it whether they are drafting #1 or #30. They don’t benefit in the lottery from “tanking”, but there are clear incentives to otherwise do so from an asset management perspective. There is a difference between intentionally losing games and rebuilding.
All they’re really doing is accelerating that process by a year. The Clippers have NOTHING on their books in two seasons except Zubac’s bargain contract (21M) and Yanic Niederhauser’s rookie contract (3M). Ultimately the reason they didn’t want to extend Powell.
So does CP3 goto the Lakers or Thunder and try and get a championship? Come to New York to backup JB. I also heard somewhere that New York could trade Kolek for Westbrook. Is that a possibility? If so do I want that after he refused to come last summer when Knicks settled for Brogdon
Have you seen Chris Paul play lately? I would be surprised if anyone picks him up. Time for him to retire
Lakers
lebron would trade his own son for cp3. wait…
At 40 yrs old CP3 can play 14 mins in NBA. Thats an achievement In itself. Clippers age and injuries. Are now running the team.
I would say time to blow it up and start anew. Only I don’t see how that happens. Nobody wants their players. And they have no picks of their own.
Not even the NBA can punish them. Any worse than they are being punished now.
Careful what you wish for !!
I’d say Spurs reunion if he doesn’t retire. Seemed like a good fit before. 10-15 minutes maybe more on one night of a back to back.
I think he served his purpose for a whole year over there. If they don’t understand the winning mentality, Chris Paul style, then another year, a second go around is not going to help with that.
I think he did a great job and taught them everything he can in that year.
Great job, very unselfish of him, plus he enjoyed being there starting games playing a lot of minutes and actually played well.
Kudos all around, but a reunion is definitely not in the works.
You are correct they should blow it up but their owner thinks they can win. You are wrong that they don’t have assets to sell. Are they willing to trade them for draft picks?? Zubac could bring back assets. Even Harden could bring back an asset. Again the owner refuses to face reality.
Lue not being on speaking terms with CP3 is wild. What kind of a head coach does that? You have a presence around the team you deem to be disruptive and you choose to ignore it? Assert your position and reclaim the leadership mantle if it bothers you so much.
I know the man generally has a good track record of getting results, but this would normally be a red flag for me. Reminds me a tiny bit of Monty with the Suns. If and when he moves on from the Clippers, I may not want to be the team who has to give him his next big contract.
CP3 is annoying and doesn’t know winning ball, only grifterball. I can see why Lue would stoneface him for meddling in his team business. CP3 100% thinks he is a player-coach. He isn’t.
Retire already, no one likes you and you are annoying.
By all means, let Lue go back to coaching a bunch of entitled players who are playing like trash and embarrassing the franchise. Great hill to die on.
Yeah, its super easy to have your highest paid players be Kawhi Leonard and James Harden. Everyone can do it. Even Pop—oops. You are wrong, again.
Thanks for making my point for me. If they’re so awful, what’s the problem with Paul trying to hold them and others accountable? And to the extent that the head coach feels the need to avoid doing the very thing he’s paid to do: coach, manage personalities, and bring leadership.
Imagine being an officer manager and refusing to engage with one of the people you would be directly responsible for just because you wouldn’t like them (and who would only be trying to improve your team’s overall performance). That wouldn’t fly either.
It’s not CP3’s job.
The Clippers knew what he would bring to the table, warts and all. And there’s no way they signed him solely for his on court production at this stage of his career. You’re acting as if vet players playing a leadership role isn’t a well known thing when it very much is. They just don’t like what he has to say.
If this were a different franchise maybe I would give them the benefit of the doubt. But neither Lue nor the Clippers have a leg to stand on given their record, nightly effort level, and all of the star pampering they’ve done since Kawhi arrived. If you don’t like what CP3 is saying then play better and shut him up.
Reading that they didn’t like CP3’s style of asking for accountability is really a rough look too. Like wow … wonder what that locker room is like.
Last ditch prayer move for the Bucks to see if he would change anything before the deadline and if not (which is likely) maybe we see a sell off of epic proportions.
Ok Shams… Minnesota seems like the best fit though, even if it’s only for the rest of the year. If I’m Chris Paul and Pelinka doesn’t call me I’m hanging it up.
How to fix Clippers?
Trade SGA, Jalen Williams and 5 first round picks for Paul George, the let George walk for nothing.
76ers came in and took huge star George
How to fix 76ers?
Trade Paul George for SGA, Jalen Williams and 5 first round picks
the single most “heat culture” player to never put a Miami Heat jersey I can think of
Maybe 7-10 years ago but he and Riley are both too old, stubborn and set in their ways at this point.
I’m not saying he should be signed by the Heat.. I’m saying his mentality is 100% heat culture lol
This is ridiculous. You don’t treat an NBA legend like this. They knew his leadership style – if they didn’t want that, they shouldn’t have brought him in in the first place. This organization has something of a history of doing this to players that have given all to the franchise. Lou Williams suggested this is a Lawrence Frank thing, and that probably has some truth to it. And let’s not let Lue off either. If a player requests a meeting – ANY player – you’ve got to honor that, that’s your job as head coach.
Agree on all points. Chris Paul is not an unknown locker room entity at this point.
Lue is overrated and a backstabber.
It’s pretty wild that a head coach, who thought someone was being disruptive, chose to deal with it by simply not communicating for weeks. That’s really, really bad coaching.
Refused to meet with him. A current player. Doesn’t matter who it is…isn’t that the coach’s job?
It’s so ridiculous that it almost sounds like a plant from the front office so they can scapegoat him. Almost.
Yeah Ty Lue is dragging this team down
Why are you refusing to TALK with one of your players? A hall of famer at that
Because that player is openly trying to steal his job from him.
That sounds very paranoic
Ultimate revenge would be him going across town to the lakers, teaming up with his mate LeBron and then going to the playoffs with them as the clippers don’t even make the playoffs in and have to rebuild without any picks.
Doubt he does it cause of all the years of service and he’s a respectable veteran but at the same time this definitely would’ve hurt
Lakers don’t exactly need another point guard but his experience and ability to facilitate and run the offence coupled with his locker room presence and competitiveness could be handy for the bench. Would have him over Gabe Vincent probably
It’s been all downhill since he tried keeping up with the kardashians.
Clippers are a mess and it’s not Lue or Paul’s fault. It’s those two trash can players perma-injured Leonard and Harden.
^ 10000 times this. Harden did more to ruin that team than anyone.
Both sides were to blame.
The clippers put together a dysfunctional team. And what was the idea of teaming Paul with Harden? It did not work in Houston. By the way – Harden is like Westbrook a looser with empty stats.
And Paul did not understand his role: shut your mouth, get your farewell Tour and bring some Minutes of pointguard play in.
Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank: “No one is blaming Chris for our underperformance. I accept responsibility for the record we have right now.”
… and then fires the player. Welcome to corporate America!
Maybe the Clippers need to trade K.Leonard to the Bucks for Giannis?