Lawrence Frank, Four Seasons Hotel, and a Character Witness: Inside Chris Paul’s Late-Night Firing

The Los Angeles Clippers began the 2025–26 season with bullish expectations. There was also a feel-good factor, with franchise legend Chris Paul returning for a farewell tour before he hung up his boots. Alas, it all went catastrophically wrong soon after, as the Clippers became one of the worst teams in the league and the franchise treated Paul like an insignificant role player.

The Clippers announced that the legendary point guard was being sent home in a stunning move that left many scratching their heads. Rumors suggested things were growing tense behind the scenes, though a full account of what had occurred remained unknown. Now, ESPN has finally unveiled some of the juicier details of how it all went down, and it was every bit the disaster it sounded like.

Things started to unravel on November 6th in Phoenix. Paul was benched for the Clippers’ second half despite James Harden and Kawhi Leonard being out. The next morning, he showed up early to workout and ended up having a sit-down with team President Lawrence Frank. It wasn’t a pleasant meeting.

Paul reportedly voiced concerns about the team’s culture, pointing to quiet group chats and a lack of time spent together off the court. Frank pushed back, telling the future Hall of Famer that his leadership style was not landing well and was being viewed as more disruptive than helpful.

That same day, Paul had a 40-minute phone call with head coach Ty Lue. He sought answers about the benching and suggested leadership meetings and additional off-day practices. Lue responded by saying Paul was coming across as overly critical and needed to take ownership of that. Rather than clearing the air, the call only worsened the situation, and Paul was informed that he would not be part of the rotation for the next game.

From there, the tension spilled onto the bench and into the locker room. Paul picked up five straight DNP-CDs, including an awkward bench exchange with Van Gundy that only added fuel to the fire. The next day, Paul met again with Frank and was given a “final warning” about being divisive, then had another tense but civil talk with Van Gundy. Those meetings ended on decent terms, and Paul was eventually allowed to address the team, with hopes that another meeting with Lue could smooth things over.

CP3 was eventually allowed to address his teammates, where he apologized if his comments came off as negative or a distraction. A few weeks later, the 40-year-old Point God would reveal that this was going to be his final season in the NBA. But the news didn’t soften up his relationship with the organization. There were more heated discussions with Van Gundy, and more pushback about how the team was operating. Eventually, the Clipper decided they had had enough.

Frank wanted to inform CP3 in person and picked Atlanta for the meeting. Around 11 p.m. in Frank’s Four Seasons hotel room, he told Paul the team planned to send him home. Frank added that he wanted to work together on how the news would be announced and even floated the idea that Paul’s jersey could still be retired one day. The news caught Paul completely off guard.

It only gets weirder. Paul tried to plead his case and even brought Brook Lopez into the room as a character witness. Lopez, along with Leonard, had been two of Paul’s strongest supporters on the roster. Paul pointed out that he had asked Frank to set up another meeting with Lue, which never happened. Frank acknowledged that but made it clear the decision was final.

And just like that, the promise of an exciting end to Paul’s career back in Los Angeles was over. Not with a competitive team in the postseason and Paul serving as a sixth man, but with a disgraceful departure after failing to read the room.

All sides look terrible in this, and the Clippers could not afford to look any worse than they already had over the summer following the Leonard–Ballmer fraud bombshell. This is about as damaging a stain on the franchise as anything else.

This story is far from over. After ESPN’s report, Paul is most likely going to explain his side of things. It feels like it is going to get worse before it gets better, but if this is how CP3 goes out, it will be diabolical. A player whose personality always matched his excellent play, but whose final bow may be getting canned from his home.