Chris Paul

Clippers Notes: Lue, Zubac, Paul, Niederhauser

The Clippers‘ season got a little brighter on Saturday with a win over the rival Lakers, but they have a long way to go to recover from a disastrous start, writes Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. Prior to the game, coach Tyronn Lue challenged his team to go 35-20 the rest of the way to reach .500 and later amended that to 36-19 for a winning season.

That may not be realistic for a team that entered the night near the bottom of the Western Conference, but Lue wants to give his players something to shoot for. He wasn’t completely happy with the performance on Saturday, but he hopes it will move the team in the right direction.

“We got to start at one,” Lue said. “We told our guys that today. I thought we came out with the right intent. Like I said, being up 15 at halftime, I thought we should have been up probably 20 to 25. And that second half, we just didn’t run through the tape. We got to get better with that. But it is a huge win for us.”

Lue adopted a must-win mentality for Saturday’s game and relied heavily on his stars, playing Kawhi Leonard nearly 42 minutes and James Harden almost 41 minutes. The Clippers snapped a five-game losing streak, picking up their first victory since December 3 and their first win at home in more than seven weeks. Although they’re still in a dire position, holding the league’s fifth-worst record and owing their first-round pick to Oklahoma City, there’s at least some hope for the future.

“I think we’ve probably led in every single game we played,” Harden said. “We’ve had big leads and then allowed them to just (dissolve), however that looks. So just finding a way to win a game, man. And it feels like it’s been forever, but I feel good.”

There’s more on the Clippers:

  • The only downside on Saturday was the loss of center Ivica Zubac, who suffered a left ankle injury in the first quarter and was ruled out of the game, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Zubac, who’s averaging 15.6 points, 11.1 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per night, hasn’t missed a game all season. The Clippers said his condition will be evaluated Sunday.
  • LeBron James told reporters after the game that he hasn’t talked with longtime friend Chris Paul since the Clippers announced they were “parting ways” with him earlier this month (video link from McMenamin). James declined to give his opinion on the situation, saying, “It’s not for me to comment on, to be honest. It’s none of my business.”
  • Lue wasn’t able to offer an update about the status of first-round pick Yanic Konan Niederhauser, who has been experiencing knee soreness, per Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link). The rookie center has only made one brief appearance since December 3.

NBA Will Decide On Expansion In 2026, Silver Says

At a press conference prior to the NBA Cup championship game, commissioner Adam Silver said the league would determine at some point in 2026 whether it will add a pair of domestic expansion teams, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic.

As Tim Bontemps of ESPN writes, Tuesday evening marked the first time Silver has given a timeline for a decision on expansion since he first broached the possibility ahead of the 2020/21 season.

I’d say in terms of domestic expansion, that is something we’re continuing to look at,” Silver said. “It’s not a secret we’re looking at this market in Las Vegas. We are looking at Seattle. We’ve looked at other markets, as well. I’d say I want to be sensitive there about this notion that we’re somehow teasing these markets, because I know we’ve been talking about it for a while.

As I’ve said before, domestic expansion, as opposed to doing a new league in Europe, is selling equity in this current league. If you own 1/30 of this league, now you own 1/32 if you add two teams. So it’s a much more difficult economic analysis. In many ways, it requires predicting the future.

I think now we’re in the process of working with our teams and gauging the level of interest and having a better understanding of what the economics would be on the ground for those particular teams and what a pro forma would look like for them, and then sometime in 2026 we’ll make a determination.”

While Silver mentioned the NBA has looked at several possibilities, he clarified to Vardon after the press conference that the league is primarily focused on the cities of Las Vegas and Seattle, which have long been viewed as the frontrunners for potential expansion.

I think Seattle and Las Vegas are two incredible cities,” Silver said, per Bontemps. “Obviously we had a team in Seattle that had great success. We have a WNBA team here in Las Vegas in the Aces. We’ve been playing the summer league here for 20 years. We’re playing our Cup games here, so we’re very familiar with this market.

I don’t have any doubt that Las Vegas, despite all of the other major league teams that are here now, the other entertainment properties, that this city could support an NBA team.”

Silver also discussed several other topics on Tuesday, Bontemps adds, including the ongoing WNBA negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement, Chris Paul‘s acrimonious exit from the Clippers, and the number of injuries around the league.

After the press conference ended, Silver suggested the NBA Cup final might be held at different venues going forward, per Jason Jones of The Athletic. The first three in-season tournament championship games were held at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

We’ve loved our experience in Vegas,” Silver said in an appearance on the NBA on Prime pregame show. “We’re talking with Amazon Prime about whether it makes sense to maybe go to some unique locations for the final game. They’ve suggested, for example, some storied college arenas. So we’re just looking at other ways to do this.”

More Details On Chris Paul’s Exit From Clippers

Longtime point guard Chris Paul is in his final NBA season and is technically still under contract with the Clippers. However, Los Angeles announced that it was “parting ways” with the future Hall of Famer on December 3, and he is no longer around the team.

Reporting after Paul’s departure shed more light on the situation, with multiple outlets suggesting that the 40-year-old had clashed with players, coaches, and the front office due to his leadership style, which the Clippers found to be “acerbic” and unhelpful in a veteran locker room.

Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com takes an in-depth look at Paul’s acrimonious exit, writing that there was no “smoking gun” incident that led to his departure.

There really wasn’t one thing,” one source close to the situation told Shelburne. “This isn’t like J.R. Smith throwing the soup in Cleveland.

Instead, there were personality clashes between Paul and various members of the organization, including arguments with head coach Tyronn Lue and “especially” assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy. There were also major differences of opinion on Paul’s role.

According to Shelburne, the Clippers viewed Paul as a low maintenance veteran leader who would play a “very limited” on-court role; Paul confirmed he was OK with that, sources tell Shelburne, but he also wanted a chance to earn playing time and would try to be an “extension of the coaching staff.”

While Paul’s second stint with the Clippers started out well in the offseason, that quickly changed during training camp, as players and coaches “recoiled” from Paul’s suggestions and “abrasive” personality, Shelburne writes.

That’s how Chris is,” one executive with another team said. “He wears you out. He’s convinced he’s right — and he often is right, which kind of pisses you off — and he’ll go around to everyone until you agree with him.”

Paul’s expectations for his role also changed during that time, as he was spearheading a second unit that was regularly “kicking (the starters’) ass” during camp, as forward John Collins put it. The 12-time All-Star had a substantial role during the preseason as well, Shelburne notes.

If all they wanted was a cheerleader,” the same rival executive said, “why did they sign Chris Paul? I mean, they had him before. They knew what he was like.”

According to Shelburne’s sources, Paul attempted multiple times during the season to engage in team-building exercises and was concerned about the Clippers’ culture, but his efforts largely fell flat in a quiet locker room. Shelburne also provides more details on Paul’s disagreements with Lue and Van Gundy, his final meeting with president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank, and reports that Brook Lopez and Kawhi Leonard were Paul’s “most ardent supporters.”

Shelburne’s story is worth checking out in full for fans of Paul and/or the Clippers.

Stein’s Latest: Mavs, Davis, Bulls, Kuminga, CP3, Pelicans

Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont has begun gathering information on possible candidates to run the team’s front office on a permanent basis following last month’s ouster of Nico Harrison, reports Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Substack link).

However, according to Stein, Dumont is in no rush to complete that search process and is content with the idea of taking a committee approach for the rest of the regular season. While Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi are the team’s co-interim general managers, minority owner Mark Cuban, head coach Jason Kidd, and Dumont himself are also providing input on front office decisions, with Dumont having become “far more involved” since Harrison’s dismissal, per Stein.

One major decision facing that committee prior to this season’s trade deadline is whether or not to trade star big man Anthony Davis. Stein hears from sources that a Davis deal isn’t a foregone conclusion by any means. As Stein explains, the Mavs recognize that last season’s Luka Doncic blockbuster can’t be undone, so the team doesn’t want to just accept the best offer on the table for Davis. Accepting a subpar return for him would risk simply “compounding mistakes already made,” Stein writes.

Here’s more from Stein’s latest NBA round-up:

  • The Bulls don’t appear to have any real interest in Davis, but they remain a team to watch for Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga, Stein says. As Stein notes, Chicago has conveyed some interest in Kuminga in the past, bringing him in past discussions involving Alex Caruso and other players.
  • The Hornets were among the teams with interest in Chris Paul during the offseason, but the veteran point guard wasn’t interested in playing so far away from his family in Los Angeles. According to Stein, Charlotte is no longer expected to pursue Paul at this time, but CP3 is believed to be more open-minded about destinations further removed from L.A. Paul, who remains under contract with the Clippers for now, will become trade-eligible on Monday.
  • Rookies Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears are now viewed as the most untouchable players on the Pelicans‘ roster, Stein writes. That designation used to belong to Trey Murphy III and Herbert Jones — while New Orleans may be more open to listen on those players now, the team’s asking price for Murphy and Jones is still “extremely” high, according to Stein, who notes that the Pelicans are essentially discouraging inquiries based on the return they’re seeking.

Thunder Notes: Paul, SGA, Dort, Holmgren

The single season that Chris Paul spent with the Thunder planted the seeds for last year’s championship run and the current 23-1 start, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN.

Paul was traded to Oklahoma City in the summer of 2019, along with a collection of draft assets, in the deal that sent Russell Westbrook to Houston. He regularly invited his younger teammates to his home on off nights to watch other NBA teams play and used those games as teaching opportunities. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort both credit that experience with helping them develop into better players.

“Chris really was the first person to show me what it meant to be a professional,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “He was always doing extra. It was more so off the court than on the court. It was the things you don’t think about as a kid. As a kid, you’re taught to just work super hard, but you’re not really taught nutrition and taking care of your body, getting massages, getting treatment, those type of things he was always on top of. He just always had a get-better mentality in every way, in every way of life.”

Paul was especially influential with Dort, who was in his rookie season when they were teammates. Paul bought him an iPad to study game footage, along with a subscription to the Second Spectrum video service. He was also vocal about encouraging Dort not to pass up open shots, even though he was connecting at less than 30% from beyond the arc at the time.

“I used to be on Lu all the time,” Paul said. “I used to say, ‘Lu, you play defense so hard and you compete so hard that I don’t care if you miss (shots) on offense. I just want you to shoot it and give yourself a chance.’ When guys compete and play like that, then you live with the results.”

There’s more from Oklahoma City:

  • In an interview with Marc J. Spears of Andscape, Gilgeous-Alexander said the Thunder became more motivated to succeed after losing to Milwaukee in last year’s NBA Cup final. OKC was already establishing itself as one of the NBA’s elite teams, but it fell by 16 points to a veteran Bucks squad in the title game. “It definitely helped. It for sure helped. Losing in general helps all the time,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It’s easy to learn from losing. It definitely just showed us the formula for losing. The way we played that night, we didn’t give what the game required and it showed us that. And I think that prepared us to go into the playoffs having to play for something. It showed us before the schemes, before the scouting report, before the making shots, missing shots, the personnel, you’ve got to bring a certain level of intensity, focus and fight to the game if you want a chance to win.”
  • One reason for this year’s improvement is the presence of Chet Holmgren, who was only available for 32 regular season games last year. Holmgren has reinvented himself on offense, observes Rylan Stiles of Sports Illustrated, becoming an efficient shooter all over the court and a reliable scorer in transition, pick-and-rolls and post-ups.
  • The Thunder’s dominance may make teams reluctant to go all in with trade offers for Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, suggests Kirk Goldsberry of The Ringer. Particularly for Western Conference teams, it may not make sense to mortgage their future in a major deal if OKC looks unbeatable.

Los Angeles Notes: Paul, Lue, Smart, Kleber, James

Chris Paul says he’s “at peace” with the Clippers’ decision to “part ways” with him and is looking forward to his next NBA opportunity, according to Jordan Greene of People Magazine (hat tip to ESPN).

“I’m actually at peace with everything,” he said. “More than anything, I’m excited about being around and getting a chance to play a small role in whatever anything looks like next.”

On a related subject, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue denies reports that he wasn’t on speaking terms with Paul.

“That ain’t true,” Lue said, per Clippers beat writer Joey Linn (Twitter video link). “We were talking. How he gonna play and I’m not talking to him? There was a stretch when he wasn’t gonna play and be out of the rotation, it was tough for him because he’s a competitor.”

Lue added he wasn’t part of the final conversation with Paul when the future Hall of Famer was told by team officials that he was no longer welcome around the club. Lue added that Clippers players aren’t happy about the decision but he has “no problem with Chris.”

Here’s more on the Los Angeles teams:

  • Lakers guard Marcus Smart is not on the injury report for the team’s NBA Cup game against the Spurs on Wednesday. Smart missed the last six games due to a back ailment. “Back is feeling good. Felt good in practice today … I’m gonna give it a shot tomorrow and see how it feels,” Smart said, according to Lakers reporter Mike Trudell (Twitter link).
  • In fact, the Lakers could be at full strength on Wednesday. Maxi Kleber (lumbar muscle strain) is the only player who is considered questionable to play, NBA insider Marc Stein tweets.
  • LeBron James scored 29 points — a season high — against Philadelphia on Sunday, including 10 straight points in the fourth quarter. The Lakers forward feels he’s rounding into form, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “At 40 years old, I mean, it just takes a while for my body to kind of get back into a rhythm,” James said. “And so it felt good (Sunday) to kind of feel like myself a little bit.”

Fischer’s Latest: Gafford, Pacers, CP3, Clippers, Turner, Warriors

Earlier today, Shams Charania of ESPN passed along several rumors related to the NBA’s trade market, including the fact that the Pacers are on the lookout for a long-term answer at center and that Daniel Gafford is among the players the Mavericks are willing to discuss in trade talks.

In his own look at the trade market on Tuesday, Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link) links those two items, reporting that the Pacers are believed to have interest in Gafford, who could make sense as a pick-and-roll partner for Tyrese Haliburton once the star point guard returns from his Achilles tear.

As we noted earlier in the day, Gafford signed a three-year extension during the offseason that will run through 2028/29, but he remains trade-eligible because that three-year, $54MM+ deal didn’t exceed the NBA’s extend-and-trade restrictions.

It’s unclear exactly what sort of return the Mavs would be seeking for the veteran center, but Obi Toppin ($14MM) or a package of Bennedict Mathurin ($9.2MM) and Tony Bradley ($2.9MM) are a couple examples of potential matches for Gafford ($14.4MM) from a salary perspective. Indiana also controls all of its own future first-round picks and most of its second-rounders.

Here are a few more highlights from Fischer’s latest rumor round-up:

  • According to Fischer, the Clippers fully intend to work with Chris Paul and his representatives at CAA to find a new home for the veteran point guard, who may be the top candidate to be dealt on December 15 when dozens of players become newly trade-eligible. Playing close to his home in Los Angeles was Paul’s top priority in the offseason, but Fischer wonders if playing time will be a more important factor for the future Hall of Famer this time around, pointing out that CP3’s dissatisfaction grew as his minutes decreased in L.A.
  • Outside of Paul, the Clippers aren’t considered likely to pursue any significant deals right away when trade season unofficially opens next Monday, says Fischer, adding that he views Ivica Zubac, James Harden, and Kawhi Leonard as unlikely candidates to be moved — at least for now. Sam Amick of The Athletic made a similar point during an appearance on FanDuel’s Run it Back show on Tuesday (Twitter video link), pointing out half-jokingly that Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has an “inexplicable, borderline insane addiction to this group.”
  • Maintaining cap flexibility beginning in 2027 remains a top priority for the Clippers, according to Fischer, who hears from sources that the team never offered Norman Powell a contract extension before trading him to the Heat over the summer. The Clippers’ front office expected Powell to seek a new deal in the neighborhood of $30MM, per Fischer.
  • While Giannis Antetokounmpo would obviously be of greater interest if the Bucks become sellers, Fischer suggests that Milwaukee center Myles Turner could be a target worth watching for the Warriors as they explore the market for potential deals involving Jonathan Kuminga. Golden State has had interest in Turner in the past, having discussed scenarios involving Kuminga, Buddy Hield, and Andrew Wiggins back when the big man was still in Indiana, Fischer writes.

Clippers Notes: Paul, Bogdanovic, Leonard, More

Future Hall-of-Famer Chris Paul is away from the Clippers after the team announced on Wednesday that it would be “parting ways” with the 40-year-old point guard. The surprising news came less than two weeks after the 11-time All-NBA selection confirmed that 2025/26 would be his final season as an NBA player.

Appearing on Amazon Prime Video on Friday (Twitter video link), NBA insider Chris Haynes discussed Paul’s acrimonious exit from Los Angeles.

The Clippers maintain that there were a series of events and conversations between the front office and Chris Paul over the last few months that ultimately led to his departure,” Haynes said. “The front office believed they had intel that Chris Paul was criticizing the coaching staff, front office and players. And this was something that they felt they’d been hearing for the past couple of months.

And there was a meeting about a month ago between (president of basketball operations) Lawrence Frank and Chris Paul where Frank addressed this issue again. Chris Paul vehemently denied those accusations. But ultimately Chris Paul elected to apologize to his teammates a few days later if his words or actions were misconstrued. 

(Paul) asked Frank, I was told, to set up a meeting between (Paul) and (head coach) Tyronn Lue — those two haven’t spoken in weeks,” Haynes continued. “Frank said he would get to that — it never happened. Sources said Lue refused to meet with Chris Paul.”

Marc J. Spears of Andscape reported on Thursday that Paul wanted to keep playing this season, and Paul essentially confirmed as much in a text to Haynes (Twitter link).

I’m just staying ready,” Paul wrote. “I’m hooping right now. I don’t (know) what’s next. I’m still scarred by it all. Still processing everything. But I’m staying ready.”

Here’s more on the Clippers:

  • Veteran wing Bogdan Bogdanovic could return to action on Saturday in Minnesota after missing the past eight games with a left hip contusion. He’s probable to suit up against the Wolves, the team announced today. The slumping Clips badly need Bogdanovic’s shot-creation skills, particularly with Bradley Beal out for the year with a fractured hip.
  • Kawhi Leonard is not on L.A.’s injury report today and Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link) hears the star forward is expected to play both ends of back-to-backs going forward, assuming he’s healthy. In 13 appearances this season, Leonard has averaged 25.8 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.0 steals per game, with a shooting line of .494/.385/.971.
  • The Clippers are now 2-9 over their past 11 games after dropping Friday’s contest in Memphis. As The Orange County Register relays, the team only managed to score two points over the final six-plus of the fourth quarter and gave up a 9-0 run to conclude the game, which the Clips lost by nine points.

Community Shootaround: Chris Paul

Chris Paul is technically still a member of the Clippers. The veteran point guard won’t become trade-eligible until December 15, and waiving him now would result in roster- and cap-related complications for an L.A. team that has less than $1.3MM in breathing room below its hard cap.

However, Paul has played his last game for the Clippers, who announced overnight on Tuesday that they’re “parting ways” with the 40-year-old. The surprising news came less than two weeks after Paul confirmed that the 2025/26 season would be his last as an NBA player.

This wasn’t how Paul envisioned his career coming to an end and it’s not how he wants to go out. Appearing on ESPN’s NBA Today on Thursday, Marc  J. Spears of Andscape confirmed as much (Twitter video link).

“So, the big question: Does he want to retire? Is he done? I was told absolutely not,” Spears said. “He does want to play.”

Still, finding a logical landing spot for the 21-year veteran will be much more difficult now than it would have been a decade or two ago.

Paul’s performance dropped off a cliff this fall after he started all 82 games for the Spurs last season. He averaged 14.3 minutes per game in 16 outings for the Clippers, posting career-low averages of 2.9 points and 3.3 assists with a brutal .321/.333/.500 shooting line.

There are respected veterans who barely play at all occupying 14th or 15th roster spots around the NBA due to their impact in the locker room, but Paul isn’t the sort of player who would be a positive presence in any situation. Reporting in the wake of his divorce with the Clippers suggested that teammates and others within the organization had tired of his “acerbic” and “disparaging” feedback behind the scenes, which came off as “grating” and unhelpful in a veteran locker room.

“You have to have a unique situation to (bring in Paul),” one league executive told Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com. “You’ve got to be a team that thinks, ‘Hey, man, we’re one guy away. We can deal with the other stuff that comes with it.’ Your team has to have strong internal discipline already. You’ve got to be able to accept the whole CP3 experience.”

Paul’s outspoken style of leadership is “part of what you get with him,” but might be more welcome in the right situation, especially if he can contribute a little more on the court than he did as a Clipper, another front office source told Bulpett.

“We looked at him after all this came down, but it wasn’t a long discussion,” that source said. “I could actually see him fitting with a team in the East, because that’s so wide open. I think he could help a team like Orlando or maybe Detroit, where he could take some of the pressure off Cade (Cunningham).

“But you have to first figure out whether you’re even able to get him with your cap situation and what you’d have to do with your roster to bring him in. Then you have to look at what you have for chemistry and all that — how strong your coaching situation is, how the players would react to another strong voice. We have a guy who played with him who I think put it best: ‘Chris Paul is an acquired taste.’ He’s not everybody’s cup of tea.”

Outside of the personality-, roster-, and cap-related challenges involved in finding a new destination for Paul, there’s also the matter of how many different situations he would be open to. During the offseason, he chose the Clippers in large part because he wanted to be close to his family in Los Angeles. Would CP3 consider an East Coast team? According to Spears, he was told that Paul will “cross that bridge when he gets there.”

We want to know what you think. Do you think Paul could still be a valuable addition to a roster in his final NBA season? If so, what team would be the best fit for him? Will the Clippers be able to make a trade, or will they have to waive Paul and eat his guaranteed minimum salary?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!

Knicks Notes: Giannis, Paul, Backup PG, Hart, More

Although the Knicks made a “real offer” for Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo in the offseason, an in-season trade looks unlikely at this juncture, reports Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter video link).

As Begley explains, Antetokounmpo would likely have to try and force his way to New York for a deal to happen, and even if that were to occur, Milwaukee would be under no obligation to fulfill his request. A league source also tells Begley the Knicks like their roster and believe they’re well-positioned in the wide-open Eastern Conference.

The Clippers announced on Wednesday morning that they’re “parting ways” with Chris Paul — what that means exactly is still to be determined, since he’s unlikely to be waived anytime soon and isn’t trade-eligible until December 15. A previous report indicated that the Knicks have discussed the possibility of making a deal for the 40-year-old point guard, but Begley hears a trade, at least as of now, is “highly unlikely” to occur.

Here’s more on the Knicks:

  • Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News and Mike Vaccaro of The New York Post (subscriber link) weigh the pros and cons of the Knicks making a run at Paul. Vaccaro believes the future Hall-of-Famer would be an upgrade over second-year guard Tyler Kolek and would probably be relatively easy to acquire. Winfield, meanwhile, says Paul would be an imperfect fit on the Knicks due to his declining production and worsening defense, but the team does need another play-maker off the bench, and the 12-time All-Star is one of the best in league history.
  • As Stefan Bondy of The New York Post writes (subscription required), Kolek has been getting backup point guard minutes of late, but the team has struggled mightily in his time on the court, which is one reason why the need for a reserve play-maker behind Jalen Brunson persists. Bondy lists nine guards whom a pair of NBA executives think could be available before the February deadline, including Paul, Jose Alvarado (Pelicans), Tre Jones (Bulls), and his older brother Tyus Jones (Magic).
  • Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter video link) expects Josh Hart to remain in the starting lineup going forward, which is noteworthy because OG Anunoby could return to action on Friday — he’s questionable against Utah after missing the past nine games with a strained left hamstring. Hart has been playing his best basketball of the season recently.
  • While the Knicks have won five of their past six games, they’ve also blown double-digit leads in five of those six contests, according to Winfield. The latest incident occurred in Wednesday’s win over Charlotte. “Teams aren’t just going to lay down. We build a lead, you’ve got to anticipate they’re going to fight back, they’re not just going to give up,” Brunson said after the victory. “We’ve got to do a better job of slowing down their runs and limiting them. But we can’t let them get all the way back like we’ve been doing.”