Chris Paul and the Los Angeles Clippers fell short of their postseason goals once again this spring, but is it already time for Paul to look for his championship elsewhere?
Reports surfaced on Wednesday that there’s “mutual interest” between Paul and the San Antonio Spurs, a rumor that surprised many in the basketball community. Initial reports before the Clippers lost to Utah this postseason indicated that Paul would sign an extension with the Clippers. But who knows how much has changed since then?
ESPN’s Zach Lowe said on his podcast, The Lowe Report, Wednesday that the talk of Paul moving to San Antonio is legit.
“There’s been a lot of rumblings about Chris Paul, and I think that’s real,” Lowe said. “I think there’s mutual interest there. I don’t know how real it is given the Clippers can offer a gigantic amount of money and are also a really good team; and the Spurs, like I said, have no sort of cap flexibility to get there. I’m very curious about what they do this summer and who’s on the team next year.”
There’s a ton of pieces in play that would need to be sorted out to actually make this happen. For one, Tony Parker is still kicking around San Antonio. And then there’s the fact that the Clippers can sign Paul to a 5-year, super-max contract worth about $210 million (any other team would only be able to offer him fours years, approximately $153 million). That’s something he negotiated as part of the Players Union to move the super-max eligibility from age 36 to 38 in part because of his own age and contract status. So he would be walking away from another year of a deal and a lot of money to sign elsewhere.
And then there’s San Antonio’s cap situation. They’re not currently in a position to offer a max contract to anyone, so they’d have to cut some players loose to make room for Paul. Pau Gasol is scheduled to make $16 million next season, though he’s said he’s opting out as well. Then there’s Tony Parker and someone like Patty Mills, two players who would be difficult to cast off, to say the least.
So yes, there are a lot of things to figure out here. But the rumor is very juicy, and it does satisfy the one desire we’ve seen fulfilled more and more in NBA players these days: prioritizing winning with a proven group over searching for a big contract. If Paul is more concerned with making an appearance in the conference finals and beyond and cares less about that than one final payday, then what better group to succeed with than the San Antonio Spurs?
Leaving the Clippers, though, would certainly cast the team into a significant rebuild. And the rumors could impact Blake Griffin’s potential free agency that also looms this summer. Paul leaving would likely mean Griffin leaves, too. And with that the Clippers would be dismantled completely.
Such a deal, however, is all in the loving talking parts right now where dreams are dreamed but rarely come true. But if Paul to the Spurs would actually happen, it would be a major—and somewhat unexpected—shakeup in the Western Conference landscape.
