Chris Paul says Rockets knew he didn’t want trade to Thunder

According to Chris Paul, the Rockets traded him to Oklahoma City after he said he didn’t want to go and the team said they wouldn’t do it.

In a new interview with Sports Illustrated (SI), former Rockets point guard Chris Paul explained why he previously said was “shocked” by the offseason trade that sent him from Houston to Oklahoma City.

Here’s how Paul characterized the process to SI’s Rohan Nadkarni:

After the season I reached out to the [Rockets] and said, ‘Hey, if you guys want to go in a different direction, let us know now. That way we can figure something out. ’They said we’re not trying to go in a different direction. [Morey] asked me if I wanted to go to Oklahoma City. I said no, and he said, ‘We won’t trade you there, because you chose to come to us from L.A.’ He doesn’t owe me anything, but that’s where the whole communication thing was.

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A nine-time NBA All-Star, Paul averaged 17.1 points and 8.0 assists in 31.9 minutes per game across two seasons in Houston from 2017 through 2019. In his first season, Paul was a co-star alongside James Harden for a squad that went a franchise-best 65-17 (.793) in the regular season.

Those Rockets then pushed the defending NBA champion Warriors to the brink in the Western Conference Finals before losing Paul to a pulled hamstring, which occurred with the Rockets up 3-2 in the best-of-seven series. With the future Hall of Famer out, the Warriors rallied to take the next two games to win the series, and ultimately that year’s NBA title.

The Rockets won 12 fewer games in the subsequent 2018-19 season and didn’t return to the conference finals, and the 15-year NBA veteran also missed extensive time due to injuries in the regular season.

With the team seeming to have stagnated, that likely played a role in GM Daryl Morey‘s decision to shake things up with the trade sending Paul to the Thunder (along with future draft assets) for Russell Westbrook.

While Westbrook has played quite well for the Rockets, and he seems to be a good fit alongside his close friend in Harden, it’s Paul who might get the last laugh. Though he didn’t initially want to go to Oklahoma City, the Thunder (25-20) have wildly exceeded expectations so far this season and are currently No. 7 in the Western Conference playoff race — only two games back of the Rockets (26-16) for the No. 6 spot.

The Thunder have also beaten the Rockets in two of their three meetings since the trade, headlined by Monday’s wild comeback victory in Houston. Moving forward, thanks to the Paul-Westbrook deal, the Thunder have two of Houston’s first-round draft picks and two pick swap rights over a four-year span from 2023 through 2026.

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And after being traded in part due to injury concerns, the now 34-year-old Paul has yet to miss a single game this season while leading the overachieving Thunder as their starting point guard and floor general.

With the 2019-20 season over halfway complete, the Thunder are nearly level with the Rockets in the standings — and they’re much better positioned for the future with all of those picks from the deal.

So even if there were some hard feelings initially based on the perception of the Thunder as a rebuilding team and the Rockets as a self-proclaimed championship contender, the winning seems to have smoothed things over in what’s become a renaissance season for Paul.

But it’s easy to understand his initial shock, if the team asked him his thoughts about a potential trade; told Paul they wouldn’t do it after hearing his reluctance; and then ultimately did the move, anyway.

From the Rockets’ perspective, ESPN‘s Marc J. Spears recently cited a team source who said Morey told Paul there was a “slim chance” he could be dealt to the Thunder, and that message could have been misinterpreted by Paul’s camp as a total denial.

It seems apparent that Morey canvassed the league for a potential third-team partner in the Westbrook trade to accept Paul, after learning of his desire to avoid the Thunder, but didn’t find any takers due to his large contract. Based on their desire to add Westbrook, the Rockets then made the hard choice to go forward with the move, anyway.

Even if there was some degree of going back on their word, the top priority for nearly all NBA teams is doing whatever it takes to upgrade their roster — which Paul seems to understand. Once he signed a four-year max contract with the Rockets in July 2018, he gave up control.

“He doesn’t owe me anything,” Paul said of Morey in Tuesday’s story.

But considering Paul chose Houston as his destination upon leaving the Los Angeles Clippers in June 2017, and given his long-time status as one of the league’s best and most respected players, it’s understandable why the Rockets wanted to consider Paul’s wishes, if at all possible.

Whatever the case, based on his new team’s performance this season, it seems clear that Paul is very happy with the Thunder now — which means the storyline shouldn’t drag out any more moving forward.

And barring an unlikely playoff matchup, the Rockets and Thunder will not meet again until the 2020-21 NBA season.

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