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“Chris Paul is an acquired taste”: Former Clippers teammates Matt Barnes and JJ Redick discuss being CP3’s teammate as well as his long-illustrious career

Akash Murty
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"Chris Paul is an acquired taste": Former Clippers teammates Matt Barnes and JJ Redick discuss being CP3's teammate as well as his long-illustrious career

Matt Barnes and JJ Redick talk about Chris Paul being some of the top point guards at age 37, also talk about his way of gelling with people.

Chris Paul has been much more and better than any one of his former teammates could have predicted. The 11-time All-Star, Paul is now in his 17th NBA season and continues to play at an elite level, leading the league with 10.4 assists per game.

While the soon-to-be 37-year-old is scoring a career-low 14.9 points per game, he is also taking a career-low 11.4 shots a game, assisting his way to keep the Suns as the best team in the NBA with a 51-12 record.

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The secret to his success is not much different from that of his friend LeBron James. Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports had something to report on that subject recently.

“He spends about a million a year on body maintenance, ranging from trainers, nutritionists, personal chefs, massage therapists,” said Haynes.

But it still surprises his former teammates, what CP3 has been able to be the best at this age and with his size.

JJ Redick and Matt Barnes discuss Chris Paul’s success and being his teammates

On JJ Redick’s podcast, the Old Man and The Three, former Clippers duo JJ and Matt Barnes discussed how their ex-teammate has been able to reinvent himself to be in MVP conversation at this age and also for the greatest point guards ever.

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While Barnes talked about how he has changed his diet and work ethic to elongate his career this long and also remain one of the best in the business, he also discussed how CP3 being more of “a throwback point guard” has helped his cause over the years.

Much like the traditional point guards of yesteryears Paul never hesitates to be the leader of the team in every aspect and puts his perspective even with some damming truths forward.

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Some players have not liked his way of leadership and have called him a toxic teammate over the years. But what he has done with the OKC Thunder and the Phoenix Suns in last years just proves Matt’s point of him being an ‘acquired taste’.

About the author

Akash Murty

Akash Murty

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An Electrical and Electronics Engineer by degree, Akash Murty is an NBA Editor at The SportsRush. Previously a Software Engineer, Murty couldn’t keep himself away from sports, and his knack for writing and putting his opinion forward brought him to the TSR. A big Soccer enthusiast, his interest in basketball developed late, as he got access to a hoop for the first time at 17. Following this, he started watching basketball at the 2012 Olympics, which transitioned to NBA, and he became a fan of the game as he watched LeBron James dominate the league. Him being an avid learner of the game and ritually following the league for around a decade, he now writes articles ranging from throwbacks, and live game reports, to gossip. LA Lakers are his favourite basketball team, while Chelsea has his heart in football. He also likes travelling, reading fiction, and sometimes cooking.

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