During The Athletic’s continuous rankings of the best 75 players in NBA history series, the 30th spot went to one of the greatest point guards of this generation in Chris Paul.
Paul’s illustrated NBA career includes a quick pit stop to the 405 as he — along with four draft protected picks/swaps — was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder from the Houston Rockets in exchange for Russell Westbrook in the blockbuster July 2019 trade.
Paul, who was 34 and just had his worst season in the NBA up to that point, looked like he owned one of the worst contracts in the NBA as he had roughly $125 million remaining over three years. Things looked so dire that the Thunder were projected to be one of the worst teams in the NBA and many questioned just how Thunder GM Sam Presti would be able to trade Paul without giving up any assets attached to him.
Instead, as many know by now, Paul was able to lead the Thunder to a 44-28 record and push his former team in the Rockets to seven games in a First Round matchup during the playoffs. Paul had one of his better seasons in the league and was the league leader in a lot of stats that full under the “clutch” category — games that are within five points in the final five minutes.
Paul’s rehabilitation garnered him an All-NBA second team nod and become one of the more attractive trade pieces heading into the 2020 offseason. Paul would eventually be traded to the Phoenix Suns and has had massive success with them as the future Hall-of-Famer went to his first NBA Finals trip in his career in 2021.
In Anthony Slater’s piece, Paul reminisces on his time with the Thunder when asked which of his 17 NBA seasons he was proudest of:
“That year I played in Oklahoma City is something I’ll never forget,” Paul said. “That was my first year living away from my family. The relationship I got with my teammates and fans. The fans were amazing. I always hate that that season got cut short because of COVID-19. That was a big season, big summer for me, going through things I hadn’t gone through since I’d been in the league.”
All in all, I would call the one year partnership between the Thunder and Paul a success as both parties got what they wanted: Paul’s image skyrocketing back up after hitting rock bottom and the Thunder’s young guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander getting a year under the Point God’s mentorship along with being able to not only trade off Paul without giving up any draft asset — but also gained picks back from the Suns.
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