“Milwaukee Bucks weren’t looking at me”: When Chris Paul was snubbed by 2 teams before New Orleans Hornets selected him 4th in the 2005 NBA Draft

Chris Paul talked about how both the Bucks and Hawks snubbed him despite amazing pre-draft workouts on the Knuckleheads podcast.

Many people look back at the 2005 NBA Draft and think about what could have been. Both Milwaukee and Atlanta passed up the opportunity to draft the greatest pure point guard of the last 16 years.

Both teams chose to focus on improving their depth at the center position. But both Milwaukee and Atlanta went with centers with obvious flaws in their games. Perhaps they were looking for a higher floor, low-risk candidate.

Either way, it’s a damning indictment of both front offices for blowing the opportunity to draft CP3. At this point, there is no doubt in any fan’s mind that CP3 is far and away the best player from that draft class.

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“The Bucks people were like that’s a good workout, but yeah”: Chris Paul on his pre-draft workout

Chris Paul was on the Knuckleheads Podcast with Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles last year. He reflected on his then-15-year-old NBA career and shared a number of extraordinary stories.

He also talked about being snubbed by both the Milwaukee and the Atlanta front offices before New Orleans locked down the Point God with the no. 4 pick:

“Someone came to watch me work out and watch me against Gil, Milwaukee. Crazy workout. Then I walk over there and the Bucks people were like ‘Yeah, that was a good workout, but yeah.'”

“That’s when TJ Ford was coming back, so I was like ‘Why the hell did y’all watch me workout if y’all knew you weren’t going to look at me’, right? So they took Bogut.”

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“I worked out for New Orleans, that was crazy, that was really crazy. Because I told them I wasn’t coming to workout for them. Real talk, I told them I’m not coming to work out.”

“Cuz I had worked out for Atlanta before that and killed that workout. It was closer to home, but not exactly at home. So I got back to the Omni hotel and my agent was like ‘New Orleans wants you to come workout tomorrow.'”

“And I was like ‘Nah, I ain’t going.’ And my agent was like ‘Well they said if you don’t come, they’re going to pick you anyway.’ I was like ‘What!’ and so I flew over to New Orleans that night.”