Getting fired from your job is embarrassing enough. Having it play out in front of the world is much worse, and that’s what Chris Paul is currently dealing with after the Clippers cut ties with him in the middle of the night earlier this week.
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Paul was in his farewell season in the NBA, playing for the franchise he’s most closely associated with after returning this summer for one last ride. He was playing just over 14 minutes per game and averaging career lows across the board, but that’s beside the point. The 40-year-old deserved better than to be unceremoniously let go by what, at the time, was a 5-16 team, just for trying to hold everyone accountable.
The L.A. Times reported that Paul is unlikely to sign with another team, meaning he would end his career on this really sour note. On the latest episode of 7PM in Brooklyn, Carmelo Anthony tried to find the silver lining in that, and he gave CP3 some advice from his own experience.
When asked what Paul’s next most logical career step should be, Melo responded, “Go be with your family, bruh … It’s gonna be an ego hit, because you ain’t gonna want to go out like that, because it’s embarrassing. But what’s gonna keep you strong is your kids, the fact that you can take your daughter to school, you can take your son to school.”
Paul has two teenage kids with his wife of 14 years, Jada Crawley. His son Chris Jr. is a basketball player too, just like Melo’s son Kiyan, who followed in his dad’s footsteps and now also plays for Syracuse.
This was Paul’s 21st season in the NBA, and before that he spent two years at Wake Forest. It’s been a very long time since he didn’t need to spend most of his waking hours working on his game, but Melo said that he’ll soon come to appreciate his newfound free time.
“You’re gonna start realizing the stresses are getting less and less and less,” Melo said. “I ain’t gotta wake up the next day, I ain’t gotta think about no shoot around, I ain’t gotta think about competing, I ain’t gotta think about what anybody got to say about basketball, because now I get to live through my son right there.”
Melo is definitely someone who has made the most of his post-playing days. His podcast is super successful, and he’s also a studio analyst now for the NBA on NBC. He can frequently be found courtside cheering on his son at Syracuse or rooting for his former team, the Knicks. Paul could learn a lot by following in his footsteps.
Melo closed with some final words of wisdom for CP3. “We can’t play this s*** forever,” he said. “And once we get past the pride and the ego, we gonna realize, ‘Hey, it’s just a business.'” Here’s hoping that the Point God can find peace if his playing days really are over.
