As LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers prepare to square off against Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat in the 2020 NBA Finals, it’s easy to forget that, not too long ago, the NBA season was in jeopardy.
Thanks in part to the efforts of NBPA President Chris Paul, we’re here. He’s received positive press for how he pulled double duty in performing for the Thunder and leading the NBA’s players through their protests of the death of George Floyd and the shooting of Jacob Blake.
Apparently, though, unbeknownst to the masses, the “Point God” was wearing another hat at the same time: college student.
During his time in the bubble, Paul made headlines by wearing clothing items that paid homage to different historically black colleges in the South. Paul would eventually reveal that he enrolled at Winston-Salem State. What we didn’t know until Paul joined Russell Wilson on his DangerTalk podcast, however, is that Paul began his college course at Winston-Salem State on the same day as Game 1 against the Houston Rockets.
Paul explained (at the 21:30 mark):
Yea, so It’s crazy, so I’m born and raised in Winston… So for me, even though I went to Wake Forest and I went for two years, everybody in my family went to HBCUs. So, for me, obviously I’ve been championing HBCUs for a while now, and nobody even knew, my first day of class for the semester was the first day of the playoffs. My first day of class of the class that I’m in right now, was my first game of the playoffs.
Paul spent about an hour with Russell, so their conversation was rather wide-ranging. At about the 21-minute mark of the podcast, however, Wilson asked Paul about his educational pursuit.
“You’re going back to Winston-Salem State, right?” Russell asked.
Little did he know that Paul had long begun his course load.
He continued to tell a funny story about some interactions that he had with his classmates, which all took place during the postseason.
It’s funny, cus everybody on your class, they see your name, and one of the assignments, our teacher said we had to comment on what she had put in as the assignment and we had to reply to two other people in our class. So, of course, I replied to people in my class and next thing I know, I look at my inbox and people are like “Are you Chris Paul? Are you really…?”
It turns out he was.
From all accounts, it does not appear that Paul is pursuing a degree, but rather trying to promote HBCUs, encourage people to vote in the presidential election and further educate himself. Bravo on all accounts.
And in case you’re inclined to wonder whether Paul’s educational pursuit had any adverse effect on his performance in the playoffs, it’s probably a losing argument. Paul averaged 21.3 points, 7.4 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game on 49% shooting from the field. He admirably led the Thunder to and through a seven-game playoff series with the Houston Rockets and put forth such an inspiring effort that there are likely to be a few teams making offers to the Thunder for his services.
One year ago, that didn’t seem likely.
Despite his season ending earlier than he would have liked, somehow, Chris Paul is still inspiring. It’s unclear when the podcast was recorded, but it was released on Wednesday. As of the time it was recorded, the course had not yet ended.
Still, we’re willing to bet that CP3 — just like he’s done elsewhere — aced it.
