“I fried Gilbert Arenas”: When Chris Paul played 1v1 against the then-Wizards star before New Orleans selected him in the 2005 NBA Draft

Chris Paul revealed how he put Gilbert Arenas to the sword before he ever made it to the NBA on the Knuckleheads podcast with Q&D.

CP3 was drafted 4th in the 2005 NBA Draft by the New Orleans Hornets – a new franchise at the time. The Louisiana-based team struck gold with their pick as Paul started off as one of the most dynamic guards in the league.

Many college basketball fans feel that Paul should have declared for the draft after his freshman year in college. But Paul explained in this podcast appearance why he benefited from staying at Wake Forest an extra year.

Given his immense talent levels, which were apparent even at that time, CP3 decided to improve his skills in college. The results of this decision were borne out in that college season as well as in his pre-draft workouts.

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Chris Paul talks about putting Gilbert Arenas to the sword in a pre-draft workout

Darius Miles started Chris Paul off on a road not often taken by the ordinary interviewer. He asked CP3 about his pre-draft workouts, which he was ready to share:

“Man, listen, I’m laughing cuz nobody asks these questions. So I was working out in DC. After I declared for the draft and school sort of finished, I went to Alexandria.”

“Me and my brother we lived out here in Virginia and we were working out every day, by myself. Like killer workouts, right? Killer workouts. But now it’s time for me to work out for a team.”

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“And I don’t know if y’all ever heard Gil (Gilbert Arenas) tell this story one time. But Gil came and worked out with me one day. Gil came and worked out, and I fried Gil.”

“It was sort of like the time, August or June, where he’s almost sort of like getting ready. But that was big for me, being so young and playing one-on-ones against Gil. And I was like ‘Damn, I feel good, I done got this.'”

“Because that’s when I made my biggest jump too. Like between those workouts getting ready for the league, I got a whole lot better.”