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The pursuit of Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Chris Paul is moving to another level. After learning that the Phoenix Suns were in serious business negotiations to acquire Paul, other teams were reportedly brought into NBA All-Star talks 10 times. Namely, the LA Clippers.
The LA Clippers’ interest in a meeting with Chris Paul is there, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise. Every team in the running or about to want it will want it. According to Ryen Russillo, there is mutual interest in a reunion, but it will be very complicated to do.
Additionally, Clippers star Kawhi Leonard is said to have contacted Paul and recruited him to join his former team. Via the Ryen Russillo podcast, h / t @LAClippersFilm:
“The Clippers are really interested in Chris Paul,” said Russillo. “The math doesn’t really make sense and Paul basically said to every team interested in negotiating for him, ‘hey, I don’t want you to trade your player for me. I just want to come join you, ‘but it’s really hard when you make over $ 40 million a year and another year for $ 40 million and up for next year. So Paul doesn’t take any kind of buyout for Oklahoma City and then try to make money somewhere else because I don’t know the buyout would make a lot of sense to anyone involved, even if the buyout was really high and then Paul is went ahead and made some extra money.
“Here is something that surprised me because I have the impression that Kawhi is this distant mythological creature who does not speak to anyone. Apparently Kawhi immediately contacted Chris Paul and said, ‘Hey, you should come over here. So this part is real, the lawsuit is real, the interest and calculations about it from Paul’s point of view just don’t seem entirely realistic.
Chris Paul is owed $ 41,358,814 for the 2020-21 season and has a player option for the 2021-22 season valued at $ 44,211,146. With the future of the NBA uncertain thanks to the coronavirus, there is no way Chris Paul will step down from the $ 44.2 million season.
The Clippers, on the other hand, have coins they can work with, but they would have to give up a lot to make the money match. A starting point should include one of their two promising young players, Ivica Zubac or Landry Shamet. In addition, they also have access to the free agencies of Montrezl Harrell, Marcus Morris and JaMychal Green. Unless a third or even fourth team is involved, adding Paul to the Clippers would require a significant recess from the current roster.
Kawhi Leonard’s name is immediately interesting as he’s not known for recruiting, especially not publicly. After a tough year where LA fell short of its goal, however, Leonard wants only one thing: to win. If bringing Chris Paul into the mix brings them a bit closer, you can be sure the Clippers will do whatever they can to bring Paul back without decimating their roster and the flexibility they have left.
After talks began about his production and his health falling off a cliff, Chris Paul has reinvigorated himself this season with the Oklahoma City Thunder. He played 70 of 72 possible regular season games and put on some fantastic playoff performances that nearly saw the Thunder upset the heavy favorites Houston Rockets in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
Paul averages 17.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 1.6 steals per game for the Thunder with 49% shooting from the field and 36.5% from beyond the arc.
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