Chris Paul and Phoenix Suns ownership met this week to discuss his future with the team and according to multiple reports, the Suns will likely cut ties with the veteran point guard this offseason. In his 18th NBA season and third with Phoenix, Paul posted numbers of 14 points per game, four rebounds per game nine assists per game.
Throughout the entirety of his NBA career, Chris Paul has been one of the league's best pure point guards when it comes to running an offense, getting other players in the right spots, and achieving SOME success when it comes to winning. However, all of the teams that CP3 has been on have come up short in the postseason when there have been heavy expectations to capture a title. Paul has played for teams that have been in multiple different stages such as his LOB City teams with the Clippers and the Houston Rockets with James Harden. Those teams were expected to win a championship and were in amazing positions to do so, but came up short.
Then there are teams that started to figure out how to win games under Chris Paul, such as the 2020 Oklahoma City Thunder that pushed a James Harden and Russell Westbrook led Rockets team to seven games in the bubble. Before Chris Paul arrived in Phoenix, the Suns were one of the biggest laughing stocks in the NBA and really, in all of sports as they were perpetual losers with one bright spot, Devin Booker. In Chris Paul's first season with the Suns, Phoenix soared all the way to second seed in the West.
As Phoenix battled through the Western Conference in the playoffs, they found themselves up 2-0 against the Bucks in the Finals and it looked like Chris Paul was going to finally capture his first championship. However, Milwaukee rallied and won both games three and four against the Suns and for Chris Paul, game four was arguably the worst of his many playoff blunders. The Suns lost that game 109-103 and Chris Paul scored just 10 points (the last two points came with seconds remaining and the Bucks weren't playing defense, so really he scored eight points) and committed five turnovers.
The Suns then went on to lose the next two games and lost the series 4-2 and while CP3 wasn't awful in games five and six, the series is still looked at as a lost opportunity overall. The following season, the Suns had the best record in the league and lost in the second round in seven games to the Dallas Mavericks and in game seven, Phoenix was down by 30 points at halftime. This year, the Suns chose to sacrifice depth and acquire Kevin Durant at the trade deadline to build a big four in Phoenix with CP3, Devin Booker and DeAndre Ayton. Paul, however, got injured in the team's second round matchup against Denver and Phoenix was once again down 30 at halftime in a home elimination game.
Although it is possible the Suns may not end up waving Paul, CP3 will have some questions to ask himself as he searches for his next team. He's probably going to have to be willing to take on a sixth man role due to his injury history and age. At the end of the day, the history of the NBA tells you that miniature guards cannot be the best player on a championship team, with the only two exceptions being Stephen Curry and Isiah Thomas. The "Point God" has been a part of five teams that have blown 2-0 leads in the postseason and as the NBA gets younger and more athletic, Chris Paul's title window is most likely shut.
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