16 seasons, 1090 regular season games (all of which he has started), 122 playoff games, playoff let down after let down, Chris Paul is finally going to his first NBA Finals. Whether it was the failed trade to the Lakers to play with Kobe Bryant, all the playoff losses with the Clippers, or the pulled hamstring in game 5 of the 2018 Western Conference Finals, there have been a lot of missed opportunities for CP3. However, he did not miss out this year. Let us take a look at the career of Chris Paul, all the successes and all of the failures.
On June 25th, 2005, Chris Paul was drafted 4th overall by the New Orleans Hornets, behind Andrew Bogut, Marvin Williams, and Deron Williams (all 3 players no longer play in the NBA). After spending 2 seasons at Wake Forest, Paul was set to become the face of the Hornets. He certainly was that and so much more for 6 seasons with the franchise, averaging 18.7 points and 9.9 assists over those 6 seasons, as the Hornets (now the Pelicans) made the playoffs 3 times while CP3 was on the team. On December 8th, 2011, after the NBA lockout was lifted, Paul was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in a 3 team trade that would send Pau Gasol to the Rockets and Kevin Martin, Lamar Odom, Goran Dragic, and extra players/picks to the Hornets. The Lakers would go on to…not get Chris Paul as then Commissioner, the late David Stern, vetoed the trade. Stern was allowed to veto that trade because at that moment in time the NBA was running the Hornets because they were without ownership, so it would be like if any other owner/governor decided they did not want their team to make that trade. Stern decided to change the trade because people like Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert were upset and complained to Stern that all the good players were going to the big markets, so on December 11th, thus Chris Paul would not become a Laker. Just 3 days later, Paul would be traded to LA’s other team, the Clippers, a team in the exact same market as the Lakers, I mean they play in the same building, but that's neither here nor there. Thus, Paul would become Clipper and Lob City was born.
Chris Paul changed the way we look at the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers were so bad for so long and CP3 became the guy who began to turn it around. 3 trips to the Western Conference Semifinals and 313 regular season wins will do that for a franchise. However, Chris Paul’s time as a Clipper is known for all the failures, not the successes. 2015 could have been the Clippers big shot at the title. They were loaded with talent, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, J.J. Redick, and Jamal Crawford were the best players, led by coach Doc Rivers. After taking out the reigning champion San Antonio Spurs in what was an epic 7 game series finished by a Paul game winner in that 7th game, LA got the Rockets in the second round. They would storm off to a 3-1 series advantage, and after losing game 5 in Houston, looked like they were poised to take the series leading game six 92-79 entering the fourth quarter. Houston would go on to win that fourth quarter 40-15, as Josh Smith, yes Josh Smith, would score 14 points by himself, outsourcing Paul, Griffin, and Jordan by himself and Corey Brewer would add 15 points, the same amount the entire Clippers team did. They got beat by Josh Smith, in a season was cut by the Pistons as he averaged 12.4 points per game in the regular season, and Corey Brewer, who has a career average of 8.7 points per game and never averaged more then 13.0 points in a season, a quarter in which James Harden (who finished 2nd in MVP voting that season) did not play. Paul scored 9 points on 2/7 from the field in the final quarter and both Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan had 0, yes zero, points in the quarter. The Clippers would lose game 7 as Smith scored 19 points and hit 4 three pointers, it is one of the most epic collapses in NBA History. It was the closest the Clippers ever got to the West Finals with Paul on the roster, and they would never get back to the second round as over the next 2 seasons, the Clippers would lose to the Portland Trail Blazers in 6 games and the Utah Jazz in 7 games. This led to Paul wanting a change so he would create that change.
Entering the summer of 2017, Chris Paul was set to become a free agent after he declined his $24 million player option. However, he got a call from Rockets star James Harden, who wanted Paul to pick up his player option and get traded to Houston, and Paul bought into the idea. As a result, on June 28th 2017, the Rockets sent Patrick Beverly, Montrezl Harrell, Lou Williams, and a 2018 first round pick (along with 4 players who the Clippers would waive) to LA for CP3. After one season, it looked like a massive hit for Houston as they won 65 games, and made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals (after beating the Timberwolves and Jazz, both of which in 5 games) where they would face the Golden State Warriors. Then leading at the end of game 5, a game Houston would win to go up 3-2, Paul pulled his hamstring. After getting blown out in game 6 on the road, the Rockets still had a chance to finish out maybe the greatest team ever assembled in a game 7. Houston would miss 27 straight 3 point attempts and go 7-44 overall for the games as they would be eliminated in that game 7, losing 101-92. Leading to the Warriors sweeping the NBA Finals. 2019 was not as fun of a season for the Rockets. However, they would win 53 games (12 less than 2018) and finish 4th in the conference and beat the Utah Jazz in 5 games for the 2nd straight season. They would play the Golden State Warriors, also for the second straight season, in round 2. After losing the first 2 games in Oakland, the Rockets would bounce back and defend their home court winning both games at home. Paul struggled in the game 5 loss scoring just 11 points on 3/14 from the field as James Harden’s 31 points was not enough, Warriors 104 Rockets 99. In game 6, Steph Curry scored 0 first half points and the game was tied at half time due to Klay Thompson’s 21 points, Curry would then score 33 second half points and the Rockets would lose 118-113, as Harden’s 35 points and Paul’s 27 points would not be enough. In that year's NBA Finals both Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson would get injured and Durant would also depart from the Warriors in free agency. Houston, who just could not get over the hump that was the Warriors, looked ready to strike with Golden State depleted. However, then they traded Chris Paul along with 2 first round picks and 2 pick swaps to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Russell Westbrook, a trade that turned out to be disastrous. Paul was headed to an Oklahoma City team that had just traded its 2 best players and looked like a rebuild was coming, but they had Chris Paul on their team, and Chris Paul does not play for bad teams.
Paul was surrounded with new OKC players like young star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, undrafted rookie Lu Dort, and sharpshooter Danilo Gallinari, along with some returning players like Dennis Schroder and Steven Adams. Oklahoma City had a very fun season, going 44-28, and getting the fifth seed in the Western Conference where they would take those same Rockets that got rid of Paul to a game 7, losing 104-102, as Lu Dort scored 30 points, along with CP3 and SGA both scoring 19 points. Then this past November, Paul would be traded to the Phoenix Suns along with Abdel Nader for Kelly Oubre, Ricky Rubio, Ty Jerome, Jalen Lecque, and a 2022 first round pick (Oubre, Rubio, and Lecque would never play for the Thunder). Phoenix would snatch the second seed in the West, beat the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in 6 games, sweep the league MVP, Nikola Jokic, and the Denver Nuggets, and beat the Los Angeles Clippers in six games, a closeout game that CP3 scored 41 points in, and will play either the Milwaukee Bucks or the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA Finals.
It has been an incredible career for Chris Paul. 6 seasons in New Orleans, a failed trade to the Lakers leading to finding himself with the Clippers, coming oh so close with the Rockets, a turn around season with the Thunder and finally breaking through the West playoffs with the Suns. There have been many ups and downs throughout his career, with most of the downs being in big moments in the playoffs. Injuries at the worst possible times to go along with bad luck and now a trip to the Finals. Chris Paul now has a chance to get the one thing that has deprived him for most of his legendary career, a ring.
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