Eight years after he played his last game for the LA Clippers, Chris Paul is making a return to the City of Angels for his swan song. The announcement, however, wasn’t a surprise to many, including members of the Banana Boat Crew.
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Paul’s old friend Dwyane Wade, for one, absolutely loves that Paul is going back to LA. After all, the six years CP3 spent with the Clippers remain the highlight of his career.
Once Chris Johnson brought the subject up for discussion on Dwyane Wade’s podcast, the rest of the table, which included Wade, D Wright and Bob Metelus, jumped on the subject and laughed about how absolutely everyone knew about the deal before it was even signed.
“That was no secret. It was the worst kept secret in the world,” Wade exclaimed.
After taking a moment for the laughter to die down, Wade complimented Paul on a fabulous career and said that a move like his was something they all want as professional athletes. “This is what the league needs. Now we can send CP off the way he needs to be sent off, and we know where to find him,” Wade noted.
“When a player gets what they want, when a guy who’s played 20 years in this league, who’s been the ultimate professional, who’s one of the greatest to play this game, to be able to say, ‘I want to play one more year, and I want to play it at home,’ and obviously back with the Clippers is where he wanted to be, back in LA with his family,” added Wade to a unanimous nod.
“We talked about Portland, the Clippers. You did it right, CP,” Wade reiterated.
Johnson also praised the move and said that Paul was doing what all of them would have wanted: to play basketball at the highest level but do so at home where your family is established and where you can be present with your kids to be a great dad.
“[Little Chris] is the face of Campbell Hall right now. Nephew had a h*** of a summer. Chris is coaching him, and so when you look at what he’s doing, his moves are not even being made about him. He’s trying to lead the game the right way, but he is leading his family even more, bro,” commented a visibly emotional Johnson.
Paul has lived away from his family for six years now. They could have moved with him, but with his children having already attended five different schools in five years, Paul decided letting them have a normal life was in their best interest.
“I’m going to make it hard on me, so it doesn’t have to be hard on my kids,” he had admitted during an appearance on DeMar DeRozan’s Dinners With DeMar.
Now, with his children being 16 and 12, Paul sees this as a great opportunity to live the best of both worlds. Besides, he already has a great history with the Clippers.
During his inaugural stint, Paul led LA to the playoffs in each of the six seasons he spent with them. The way this story is shaping up to have a fairytale ending, it won’t be surprising to see Paul leave the NBA with a championship. It may not be what analysts believe, but stranger things have happened.
