Of Course, The Los Angeles Clippers Did Chris Paul Dirty
Of Course, The Los Angeles Clippers Did Chris Paul Dirty — They’re The Clippers!
They cut him in the middle of the night in Atlanta like he was a bad Waffle House cook.
On Wednesday morning, at around 3 a.m. EST, Chris Paul took to social media to announce he’d been fired. “Just Found Out I’m Being Sent Home,” the Instagram Story read, which included a peace-out emoji.
And just like that, arguably the best player in the history of one of the most trifling franchises professional sports has ever seen was done — in a season that was already scheduled to be his swan song.
According to reports, Paul’s leadership style allegedly played a part in this perplexing decision. “Weeks ago, Chris Paul requested to have a meeting with Tyronn Lue to discuss allegations of being a negative presence on (the) team. Lue refused to meet with him. Lawrence Frank traveled to Atlanta to deliver news of parting ways. Paul desired final season to be with (the) Clippers,” tweeted NBA Insider Chris Haynes.
The Clippers are sticking to the script.
“We’re 5-16. I completely own that. I’m not putting that on Chris Paul at all,” Clippers President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank told reporters on a Zoom call.
“This is not a situation where I’m using Chris as a scapegoat for the job that I’ve done. Chris’ legacy with us stands. This situation just didn’t work out at this time.”
Whether you love or hate Paul, this situation is undeniably strange. ESPN’s Marc Spears, a longtime NBA reporter and a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, pointed out how unusual this move was. “Chris Paul, a future Hall of Famer, I expected to be the first Clipper to get his jersey retired one day, getting sent home at this stage is one of the most astonishing things I’ve seen covering this league,” he posted to social media.
A crucial element of this situation is whether you side with the perspective and opinions of players and reporters, or with the Clippers’ management.
“This person told me I can relax, I’m not getting traded. Fifteen minutes later, I was an Atlanta Hawk. Now we have this scenario… it’s bad business,” Lou Williams — who won two of his three NBA Sixth Man of the Year awards with the Clippers — said about Frank on his streaming show.
For those of you wondering why the treatment of Paul has caused such a reaction, it’s because it resonates with both supporters and critics alike. Paul is the type of player you’d despise facing but would gladly welcome on your team, even if it led to some frustration at times.
Patrick Beverley once got so mad at Paul that he got ejected for shoving him in the back during a playoff game. Rajon Rondo took a swing at Paul after Paul put his fingers in his face. And back in college, Paul intentionally hit Julius Hodge in the crotch.
“I still hate the sh*t out the guy, but at the end of the day, he deserves his flowers,” DeMarcus Cousins, a longtime rival of Paul’s, said.
Even one of Paul’s best friends couldn’t stand him at one time.
“The arc of our relationship is very interesting, from going to a decade plus of quite literally hating each other to feeling like he is a part of my family,” former teammate and current Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick said recently. “Getting to watch him evolve as a player, as a competitor, as a leader in the later stages, particularly after I retired, has actually been really fun for me.”
For as long as they’ve been a franchise, the Clippers have done things that don’t make sense. Oddly enough, Paul was the leader of the team when they were a force to be reckoned with in the Western Conference.
However, this is the same franchise that was owned for decades by Donald Sterling, who received a lifetime ban from the league in 2014 and was forced to sell the team due to racist comments he made in private conversations that were leaked. FX Network even made a miniseries about it in 2024.
In 2017, in an effort to retain franchise player and fan favorite Blake Griffin, the Clippers put his face on a t-shirt that featured the likenesses of historic figures like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Barack Obama, Muhammad Ali, John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi, Michael Jackson, Albert Einstein, and Nelson Mandela. Mind you, they did this a year before they traded him to the Detroit Pistons.
Earlier this year, sports investigative journalist Pablo Torres reported a story on his podcast about allegations that the Clippers may have circumvented the NBA’s salary cap by paying their franchise player, Kawhi Leonard $28 million through an endorsement deal by a company that was partially funded by team owner Steve Ballmer.
That’s the Clippers for you.
At the time of Paul’s dismissal, the team had lost 14 of 16 games, including five in a row, resulting in the second-worst record in the Western Conference. The team is also without star guard Bradley Beal, who was one of their biggest offseason signings, as he suffered a season-ending hip injury. The Clippers are still on the hook for the $3.6 million salary they owe Paul unless they trade him.
“I just think it wasn’t a good fit for what he was looking for. It is what it is. Do I want to see CP go out like this? No. I have a lot of respect for him. He’s been a friend of mine over the years,” said the head coach of the team that released a tribute video on social media about Paul just days ago. “You never wanna see a great go out like this. But I’m pretty sure he will find something, because he’s a great player. He’s a…you know, I didn’t wanna see it end like this,” declared Clippers coach Ty Lue.
Despite all that’s transpired in the past and in the last few days, the Clippers made a move that neither improved their team nor helped their reputation. And that in itself is the greatest description of who the Los Angeles Clippers have always been, and will continue to be — losers.
Carron J. Phillips is an award-winning journalist who writes on race, culture, social issues, politics, and sports. He hails from Saginaw, Michigan, and is a graduate of Morehouse College and Syracuse University. Follow his Substack to keep up with more of his work.
