It may not have ended the way he or anyone envisioned, but Chris Paul had a heck of a career. However, his legacy is a complicated one.
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The Point God played for seven different teams over the course of 21 seasons, and was named to the All-NBA team 11 times. Paul won the 2006 Rookie of the Year award and the 2013 All-Star Game MVP award, and finished second all-time in both assists and steals.
Paul was undoubtedly a great player, but he never won a ring and only made the Finals once. He had a reputation as a difficult locker room presence, which was seemingly confirmed when the Clippers, the team he’s most known for representing, having played for them at his peak from 2011 to 2017 as well as this season, unceremoniously cut him in early December. They almost immediately turned their season around.
Paul’s leadership style wasn’t for everyone, but there are many around the league who appreciated him. Viewers were reminded of that when Tylil James dropped the latest episode of his show this morning, with Paul as a guest.
CP3 gave James a tour of his house. And there was one item in particular that seemed to mean a lot to him: a plaque given to him by the San Antonio Spurs.
“This is dope. The Spurs gave this to me last year,” he said as he showed off the plaque. “They were the best organization I played for.”
On the plaque, there are seven different pictures of CP3, one for each team he played for, and a list of the players that he dished the most assists to.
Paul’s feelings about the Spurs are notable. That’s not only because it shines a light on how badly his second tour of duty with the Clippers ended, but because he spent just one season (2024-25) in San Antonio and obviously loved it that much. Despite being 39 years old at the time, he didn’t miss a single game that season.
Even in his backup point guard role, he helped the Spurs’ young core along the road of maturation that they’ve continued now as the current 2-seed in the West.
The fact that Paul chose the Spurs as his favorite franchise and not the Clippers, where he spent seven years, the Hornets, where he spent six, or the Suns, who he helped take to the Finals, speaks volumes.
The video of Spurs coach Mitch Johnson presenting the plaque to Paul makes it clear how much it means to him. It also shows how much his Spurs teammates love and respect him.
In accepting it, he even acknowledges that he can be difficult to play with. However, the gratitude and emotion of a team appreciating him, let alone one that he only played one season for, stands in sharp contrast to the way the Clippers effectively ended his career.
The way these two franchises treated Paul confirms what most people already knew. The Spurs have always been known as a class organization that does things the right way. The Clippers, on the other hand… Let’s just say that’s not the reputation they have.
Hopefully, when Paul looks back on his career, he’s able to focus more on things like this plaque. He should remember the milestones and the great times, and leave any bitter feelings about his abrupt end in L.A. behind.
