Chris Paul Announces Retirement

“This is it!” he wrote as part of a longer statement. “After over 21 years I’m stepping away from basketball.

“… While this chapter of being an ‘NBA player’ is done, the game of basketball will forever be ingrained in the DNA of my life. I’ve been in the NBA for more than half of my life, spanning three decades. It’s crazy even saying that! Playing basketball for a living has been an unbelievable blessing that also came with lots of responsibility. I embraced it all. The good and the bad.

“As a lifelong learner, leadership is hard and is not for the weak. Some will like you and many people won’t. But the goal was always the goal, and my intentions were always sincere (Damn, I love competing!). It feels really good knowing that I played and treated this game with the utmost respect since the day my dad introduced me to it.”

Paul’s decision brings an end to the career of one of the NBA’s all-time great point guards. The former Wake Forest star, who was drafted fourth overall in 2005, spent 21 seasons in the league, appearing in 1,370 total regular season games and another 149 playoff contests for seven franchises.

Paul earned 12 All-Star berths and 11 All-NBA nods, won the 2006 Rookie of the Year award, was the MVP of the 2013 All-Star game, and led the league in assists five times and steals six times. He also made nine All-Defensive teams (including seven first teams) and was part of the NBA’s 75th anniversary squad.

The North Carolina native began his NBA career with New Orleans, spending six seasons as a member of the then-Hornets, before he was traded to the Clippers in 2011. Former NBA commissioner David Stern, who was acting as the de facto owner of New Orleans’ team at that time while the league sought a buyer, controversially vetoed a trade that would have sent Paul to the Lakers before signing off on a deal sending CP3 to Los Angeles’ other team.

The best stretch of Paul’s career arguably came during his first five seasons in L.A. — he was named an All-Star and an All-Defensive first teamer while also finishing in the top seven of the MVP vote in each of those five years. Although those “Lob City” Clippers never made a deep playoff run, they won postseason series in three of five years after Paul had won just a single series during his time in New Orleans.

Paul, who was traded to Houston during the 2017 offseason, subsequently had stints with the Rockets, Thunder, Suns, Warriors, and Spurs before returning to the Clippers for his final season last summer. The reunion with the Clippers turned sour in the fall as the team decided to part ways with him due to the poor cultural fit. He was traded to Toronto at last week’s deadline before being waived and making his retirement announcement on Friday.

Despite the anticlimactic end to his career – and the fact that he never won an NBA championship – Paul is a surefire future Hall-of-Famer who made the All-Star game with four different teams and will retire holding the No. 2 spot on the NBA’s all-time list of assists and steals leaders. He also served as the president of the National Basketball Players Association from 2013-21.

For his career, Paul averaged 16.8 points, 9.2 assists, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.0 steals in 33.5 minutes per game, with a .469/.370/.870 shooting line.