After a disappointing end to their season, the Los Angeles Clippers fired its head coach Doc Rivers. In seven years at the helm, Rivers brought the Clippers far — from laughingstock to title contender.
Still, with the team underachieving, it was difficult for Rivers — who was promptly hired by the Philadelphia 76ers — to remain in power.
Aside from the change in leadership on the bench, it was widely assumed that the Clippers would seek to begin the 2020-21 season as a more talented bunch, a difficult proposition considering what’s already on the roster.
That’s probably why Kawhi Leonard decided to reach out to Chris Paul about a return to the franchise that Paul called home for seven seasons before he asked for a trade to Houston.
Now, just a few years later, Paul is widely expected to be traded by the Oklahoma City Thunder. Both the Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks have been mentioned as potential landing spots, but according to ESPN’s Ryen Russillo, Leonard wants Paul back in Los Angeles. The Clippers, apparently, would welcome him back, too.
Russillo said as much on a recent episode of The Ryen Russillo podcast. The transcribed content comes courtesy of Sports Illustrated’s All Clippers.
“The Clippers are definitely interested in Chris Paul…
“Here’s something that did surprise me because it just feels like Kawhi is this distant, mythological creature that doesn’t talk with anybody. Apparently, Kawhi reached out to Chris Paul immediately and was like, ‘Hey, you should come here.’ So that part is real, the pursuit is real, the interest and the math on it from Paul’s standpoint doesn’t seem to be all that realistic.”
To Russillo’s credit, he explained how a trade of Paul back to the Clippers appears to be extremely far-fetched.
Both the Clippers and Thunder are over the cap, meaning that the salaries being exchanged between both teams would need to be roughly equal. With Paul due to earn $41 million next season, the Clippers would have to send the Thunder roughly the same amount of money for a trade between the two teams to work.
In order for that to happen, the Clippers would either have to send Kawhi Leonard or Paul George to the Thunder or a massive combination of players that would certainly have to include Lou Williams and Patrick Beverly — neither of whom would seem to fit what the Thunder are looking to get in exchange for CP3.
Russillo said as much while also reporting that the more likely scenario of Paul joining the Clippers after agreeing to a buyout from the Thunder didn’t seem plausible.
The math doesn’t really make any sense and Paul has basically told any of the teams that are interested in trading for him, ‘Hey, I don’t want you trading your player for me. I want to just come and join you,’ but that’s really hard when you’re making over $40 million a year… So Paul’s not taking any kind of buyout for Oklahoma City to then try and make up the money somewhere else because I don’t know that the buyout would make a ton of sense for anybody involved.
It should be said that the Clippers and Thunder could attempt to construct a multi-team trade with at least one team that has salary cap space. Doing so could loosen the restrictions on the Clippers’ ability to take back money in a potential deal, but even that is far fetched. Outside of Landry Shamet and Ivica Zubac, the Clippers don’t have the kinds of assets that younger rebuilding teams would covet, especially if they were to help play a role in landing Paul back in Los Angeles. Keep in mind that the Clippers traded its 2020 first-round pick to the Knicks for Marcus Morris and its own 2022, 2024 and 2026 first-round picks to the Thunder for Paul George.
Still, it’s interesting to note that the Clippers know that they need something and that Leonard is willing to play the role of recruiter — just like he did with Paul George before signing with Los Angeles last summer.
Unless Paul does reach a buyout agreement with the Thunder, though, this time, Leonard’s attempt to recruit a star to Los Angeles is likely to be in vain.