Chris Paul’s return to Los Angeles Clippers

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – A 40-year-old Chris Paul was enthusiastically looking at video replays of successful offensive sets from his old teams on an iPad a couple hours before the Los Angeles Clippers began practice Oct. 13. The 21-year NBA veteran has texted clips of his vintage plays to his teammates in hopes of showing wrinkles that his new team can implement now. So, if this is actually the swansong of a future Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer’s career, as expected on both accounts, you couldn’t tell by how energetic, locked in and at peace Paul appears to be back in a Clippers uniform.

“From a business standpoint, I’m excited about the things that I have going on, things that I’m interested in to dive into a little bit more and learn and explore. Because that’s the other thing, I’ve always been curious and at some point whenever, I’m done playing, I’ll dive into that more,” Paul told Andscape before practice at the Intuit Dome on Monday morning. “But it’s going to be really hard to find something to fill my cup the way this game does.

“Not only am I playing and practicing, but last night and I was getting a haircut and I’m on my iPad watching clips and shots from 10 years ago and watching me and James (Harden) when we played together in Houston, trying to find plays that worked well with us together or whatnot because this has been such a big part of my life for so long. One thing about it, I’m supported enough to hopefully figure it out.”

Paul contemplated retirement with his wife, Jada, two teenage children, Chris Paul Jr. and Camryn in their home base of Los Angeles during this past off-season after playing in 20 NBA seasons. After starring most notably for the Clippers from 2011-17, the New Orleans Hornets draftee played for the Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns, Oklahoma City Thunder, Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs. Meanwhile, Paul and his family suffered in the process as he worked remotely from his family from 2019-25. Keep in mind that he was also the president of the National Basketball Players Association from 2013-21, which included the “NBA Bubble” in 2020.

After the absence became too much to bear, Paul acknowledged to Andscape that it was likely Clippers or retirement during his NBA career.  The Clippers brought their former star from “The Lob City” era by signing him to a one-year, $3.6 million dollar contract on July 21. The 12-time NBA All-Star was quite emotional after the Clippers re-introduced him to season-ticket holders for a Q&A after his press conference. On Friday, Paul will play his first regular-season home game back in a Clippers uniform host the Suns since 2017.

“Luckily, the tickets and all that, that’s on my wife and my brother. They’ll figure all that out,” Paul said. “We’ve had a preseason game (at Intuit Dome). I feel like I’m so locked into the game that I’m not thinking about the extras, if that makes sense.  When we played, our first preseason home game, I checked in and I’m thinking about the defense and what plays we going to run and all this. And when I checked in the game, I heard the loud screams (from Clippers fans) and I was like, ‘Oh, thank you.’ I’m so locked into the game that I can’t even process all of that.”

The following is a Q&A with Paul who talks about the importance of playing close to his family with the Clippers, his keys to playing at the age of 40, enjoying the little things with family in Los Angeles, the trade to play with Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers that was nixed by the NBA, his hopes of winning a first-ever title with the Clippers, the NBA probe into whether the Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer used a sponsorship deal with the company Aspiration to circumvent the salary cap and illegally supplement player compensation to forward Kawhi Leonard, the uncertainty about whether to retire or continue and much more.

When I show you this [rookie season] picture, what comes to mind?

It’s a long, long, long time ago. In a way. At this point, it seemed like it wasn’t that long ago. But then when you start looking at pictures and thinking about stuff to do that, like it was a long time ago. But a lot of stuff has changed since then…

One of the first things I do is I think about my kids. I think about how old I was and that picture and relevance to the age of my kids. So, that picture you just showed me, I’m thinking I’m about 19, 20 years old. And now my son is 16. So, I’m like, damn it ain’t that far removed.

            Q: I remember seeing your son and your family during your Clippers press conference in July and just how happy and how emotional they were and how much joy they had with your presence back in Los Angeles. Can you talk about that? And also where is your joy now?

            Paul: “It’s interesting because I know where my joy is. I’ll probably be more interested to see if other people around me can possibly see it. Just because, the fact is I get to come here and hoop every day. Still get a chance to play at the highest level and compete day in and day out, and I get to go home. I get to go home!

“One of the weekends where I got home, it was it was just me and my wife and my kids. And we usually have a house full of our family, cousins, uncles, all this stuff like that. But it was just us. And that doesn’t happen that often. And I know they probably get tired of me saying it, but we’ll just be sitting here watching TV and I’ll just be like, ‘Damn I missed y’all.’ And I tell them it’s just the normalcy of life.

“The last six years I would get out of practice and go home and talk to them on FaceTime and just see what they were doing. And now getting a chance to be a part of the simplest things at the school drop off. It could be my kids having their friends over. I’m dropped my daughter off with one of her friends at Universal Studios (on Sunday) night with another family. So, those 15 minute car rides what really make my day…

“I definitely take pride in it. And those parents who do that day in and day out, just know that I appreciate it. I’m sure other athletes, people or whatnot, they’ll tell you, those are the moments with your kids that you’ll never forget. That time, even though it just seems like your Uber driver or something like that, that’s when I feel like I really get a chance to have that connection. Those talks are important parts of my days.”

Was it as simple as Clippers or retirement this summer for you?

Basically, to a certain extent, yeah… And everybody’s normal is different. I’ve been unbelievably blessed and fortunate to play as long as I play. I’ve made a great living for me and my family. But I the thing that I always constantly think about is time. And that’s the thing that you can’t get back. And, unfortunately, what we see a lot of times these tragic events or certain things that happen to people and everybody be like, ‘Damn, I didn’t know that this was going to happen.’

And for me, while I think I could play another, I don’t know how many years or whatnot and keep going. The thing that always makes me wonder and think about how long I want to play and if I want to keep playing is that I think about my family. And I’m not just saying my immediate family. I got a lot of cousins and family members who live back home in North Carolina that I don’t get to see.

And I always think about the little cousins that go to school and say, ‘I’m Chris Paul’s cousin.’ I used to be that kid. I used to run around telling everybody that (former NBA star) Larry Nance was my cousin because I saw him at a family reunion when I was a little kid. And I think about my cousins or uncles and aunts and stuff like that, who to a certain extent don’t really know me now because I’ve consistently been gone for the last 20 years. So, I think about spending time with my grandmother, my grandfather, my grandparents. And, it sounds simple, but I want to play golf with my dad. My dad plays a lot of golf all the time. And this past summer, I might have played golf with my dad maybe two or three times.

So, amongst everything else in life, I’m just trying to figure out how I can spend more time with my family.”

Q: So, with that in mind, does that mean this is your last NBA season?

Paul: “No. I’m just saying all this stuff is part of my decision-making in my thought process. Yeah, I don’t know that (answer).”

            Q: So, is playing past this NBA season is possible?

            Paul: “I don’t know. For me, I’m going to keep playing it by ear. See what it looks like. Who knows? My parents might move out here (to Los Angeles). But I know good and well my parents pretty much ain’t leaving Winston-Salem (North Carolina). I know how fortunate I am to at least get a chance to think about that.”

Q: Going back to your introductory day, when you went in front of Clippers season-ticket holders, what brought that emotion you displayed out of you?

Paul: “The biggest thing that brought that emotion is thinking about the six years that I played here before and, the roller coaster up and down. And guys around the league, they might say it, they might not say it, some teams or organizations that you have had some of your best experiences never really leave you. You do go to other teams and you have different experiences or whatnot. But, through the people that worked for the team and my family still being back here in LA, I still, even though I’ve been away for a number of years, have had connections here to the Clippers.

“So, to see, the fan appreciation and to have my family here and to know what this season meant, it was just wrapped up in a lot of emotions. I was very surprised. I knew I had a busy day as the press conferences or whatnot. But I had no clue that all those people were going to be here. And my days are usually busy anyway. So, after a press conference that day, I was flying to (Las) Vegas for my basketball camp. For a lot of times, a lot of things, you’re never fully present because you’re always busy. And I think in that moment that really made me just sit there and be grateful and appreciative to my time that I’ve been here.”

Q: Have you been nostalgic at this stage of your career?

Paul: “Maybe for a few moments. Yeah, sometimes. When I get, my practice uniform for the first time. When I have my uniform on for the first time. Talking to ‘Zu’ (Clippers center Ivica Zubac), we were playing cards together on the plane and I realized that ‘Zu’ was the longest tenured Clipper here on the team. And I was like, ‘’Zu,’ what year is this for you here with the Clippers?’ He was like, ‘This is my seventh year, too.’ It’s my seventh-year, too. Six, a big gap, and then this (season).

“There are moments. Maybe it will start when the season comes. But I’m so locked into the games.  And in this new role that I’m into; I got to be locked in and focus on the game.”

Q: When you think back, what influences played a big role in the beginning of your NBA career and now?

Paul: “On our biggest roles was being able to change. It’s being able to change, being able to listen, being able to learn, being able to go through the the hard time, being able to hear the haters but also drown them out. Being able to still show up every day and know that it don’t matter what everybody else thinks, what everybody else says. And, honestly, I’ll tell you it’s a lot of a lot of prayer, a lot of faith. I know God don’t play about me.

“And my family and my support system has been real. But the biggest thing is being able to change. The NBA now is so different than it was when I came in as a rookie. And it literally has changed probably about every four to five years. And some people are so stuck in their ways and unable to adapt and change. And so being able to do that. Being able to communicate, good, bad or indifferent. And yeah, just being able to stack days and do the work.”

Q: Do you see a day when your Clippers jersey is retired in the rafters at Intuit Dome?

Paul: “My jersey up there? I hope so. Probably me along with BG (Blake Griffin), DJ (Deandre Jordan). I don’t know who else. But God willing I’ll get one up there.”

Q: What does this team have to do to get the first NBA championship banner up?

Paul: “I know people that I that’s what they always say, but we literally just got to keep stacking days. Every single day ee just got to be willing to, to do the little things. This team has so much depth. So much experience. And I think for us, it’s being willing to get uncomfortable. And I think we got a locker room full of them guys.”

Q: Do you still dream about winning a championship and how storybook would it be to do it here?

Paul: “It would obviously be ideal. But I think when I come in to practice every day, that’s not like, ‘Oh, we got to…’ From all the years and all the experiences or whatnot, you literally just start thinking about today and are we building the right habits? If we build the right habits, everything else will take care of itself.

“But there have probably been teams where you come on, ‘Yeah, that’s what we got to do.’ But I think now it’s about the journey. It’s about the process.”

Q: With everything you’ve been through as a player whether it was the banning of former Clippers owner Donald Sterling or challenges are president of the NBPA, how do you help guide this team through an NBA investigation?

Paul: “I’m being honest, going through all the experiences that I’ve been through in the league, Sterling, all the different union stuff, you may have come in some days and knew something that was going, know what was going on. ‘Ain’t nobody thought twice about that.’ It’s not something that’s talked about. Don’t nobody think about it. We just hoop.”

Q: How does your body feel by it and what do you do on a daily basis to get yourself ready?

Paul: “Body feels amazing. On a daily basis, (Monday’s) practice is at 11, I was up at six. It usually takes me about 50 minutes or something like that to get here. I got here with my trainer. We lift at eight. Then I’ll eat and I get on the court and shoot and practice just every day.”

Q: Do you feel 40 years old?

Paul: “I don’t. Age has always been one of them things that where you only as old as you feel. So, for me, in the way that I train, the way that I eat, the way that I prepare or whatnot, it’s a lot of maintenance and all these things, but I feel amazing. The only thing that made me feel 40, I think sometimes and when I’m in the locker room and some of my teammates talk about what year they were born.

“I was in the locker room, maybe a month ago, and I was telling some of the guys on the team how (Hurricane) Katrina happened right after I got drafted. And one of them didn’t know what I was talking about because he was born in 2005.”

Q: And last thing, in terms of your NBA career, what are you most proud of and which one, 20 years from now are you going to be like still thinking about scratching your head?

Paul: “The one I’m probably that I’m most proud of is actually the union work. I learned a lot about the business of this game. I learned a lot about myself and the accessibility that I had to have amongst all the players. And for all of us to have the health insurance for the retired players. That seriously is like number one because it’s very selfless of all of us as players. And a lot of times when you play it, you can only think about you being in it.

“And some of those road games that we play, even still now, and former players, some that I don’t even know, will just pop up somewhere and just tap me on the shoulder and be like, ‘Mey man, because you guys did this, I was able to do that.’ And I think you remember the Tiny Archibald situation and all of that. So that that’s longevity. That stuff is bigger than this game or any state or ever be. So that’s number one is making sure that all retired players have health insurance.

“And then the thing that I look back and I be like, dang, that’s crazy. I can’t believe that happened. It’ll probably be that trade with me and Kobe (Bryant). Only because I vividly remember the conversation that me and Kobe had that night that I will talk about one day. But that was just a wild situation.”

Q: You still having a hard time contemplating the late Kobe Bryant being gone? Paul: “Like say all the time, ‘It’s almost just like we haven’t talked in a while. That’s the way I look at that situation.”

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