How Chris Paul’s final NBA season has turned into a hard-to-watch decline

There is little debate about where Chris Paul ranks among the greatest point guards of all time. The veteran has seen everything the NBA can throw at a player and has built a resume most stars could only dream of.

He was Rookie of the Year in 2006 and a member of the All Rookie First Team. He has been selected to 12 All Star Games, earned 11 All NBA nods, including four First Team selections, and made nine All Defensive Teams, seven of them on the First Team. He won the 2013 All Star Game MVP, led the league in assists five times and in steals six times, won two Olympic gold medals, had his number retired at Wake Forest, and was named one of the NBA’s 75 greatest players.

The only blemish is the one he shares with other all time greats. He never won a championship. The closest he came was in the 2021 Finals, when his Phoenix Suns blew a 2-0 lead and lost the series 4-2 to Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks.

Chris Paul: One of the greatest players to never win a ring

That distinction also puts Paul near the top of the unofficial list of best players without a title. It is a group that includes legends such as John Stockton, Karl Malone, and Charles Barkley, along with more recent stars like James Harden and Russell Westbrook. Even with that footnote, Paul’s legacy remains secure. He is an undeniably gifted point guard who elevated the traditional, textbook version of the position. His career shooting numbers, including 47 percent from the field and 37 percent from three, are superb for a player listed at 6 feet tall.

A rough ending no one expected

None of that makes his current decline any easier to watch. Last season with the Spurs, Paul earned praise for mentoring Victor Wembanyama and playing all 82 games for only the second time in his career. This year, he is a shadow of the player who once powered Lob City. Paul wanted to return to the Clippers to honor that era, his era. Instead, he joined a franchise dealing with off court turmoil involving Kawhi Leonard and owner Steve Ballmer and a roster built around former stars who no longer move the needle. Paul George and Russell Westbrook already came and went. James Harden and Leonard remain, but neither has recaptured past dominance.

The worst numbers of his career

Amid all that noise, Paul is delivering shockingly poor numbers in his 21st and final NBA season. Through 12 appearances, he is averaging just 2.5 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 3.8 assists in 13 minutes per game. He is shooting 28.2 percent from the field and under 28 percent from deep. At one point, head coach Tyronn Lue benched him for five straight games, an unmistakable sign that the team might be better with him on the sideline.

It is a sad way to close the career of a unique and unforgettable player who will retire at age 40 after 21 seasons. Paul was the engine of Lob City, the catalyst who helped Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan soar before that era fell apart. Now, his own finale is slipping into something painfully undignified, a stark reminder of a truth every athlete eventually faces.

Everything ends. Sometimes in the hardest way possible.

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