Chris Paul doesn’t blame the NBA for the inordinate amount of injuries that took place this season as the start of the season was discussed.
The story surrounding the 2021 NBA Playoffs will unfortunately be the fact that quite nearly every single series, except for Knicks-Hawks, had a team’s best or 2nd best player be sidelined due to injury. Guys like Chris Paul, Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving, amongst others, were all dealt the short end of the stick during this postseason.
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Many believe that that the title won between Chris Paul’s Suns and Giannis’s Bucks will most definitely have an asterisk next to it due to the injuries to all these superstars. These are also the same people who are of the mindset that the NBA went forth with the 2020-21 NBA season much too quickly following the end of the ‘Bubble Playoffs’.
LeBron James was highly critical of the short offseason players received after having been booted from the Playoffs in the 1st round. Chris Paul however, sees the decision the NBA made, in a different light.
Is Chris Paul subtly taking shots at LeBron James?
Chris Paul recently told Mark Medina of USA Today that he was well aware of what would take place in terms of the bodies of NBA players when given such a short time to recover from the previous season. This didn’t stop Adam Silver and league executives from commencing forth with the season.
“Injuries are always unfortunate. You hate to have them. But, just like when we went to the bubble, everything was discussed as far as the players and the full body of players. Everything that’s good for this guy and that guy might not be the same for that guy. But, everything has always been a conversation and it’s going to continue to be that way.”
Suns guard Chris Paul, who’s also the NBPA president, defended the NBA’s compressed season despite unprecedented playoff injuries. Paul: “One thing about our league and its players is everything is always a conversation.” https://t.co/S38g2f0uw2
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) July 5, 2021
Chris Paul, being the NBPA President, has a ton of pull on players as well as higher-ups within the league. If the President of the NBPA sternly disagreed with starting up the season as early as it did, the league would’ve certainly considered pushing the start to January. However, it seems as though there must’ve been little to no pushback from the players on this matter.