Tag: chris paul

Chris Paul Suns debut is a win

The NBA season tipped off Tuesday, and was packed with 12 games of action on Wednesday, not including a 13th game (Thunder vs. Rockets) that was postponed. And in his first regular season game as a member of the Phoenix Suns, veteran star point guard Chris Paul enjoyed victory. Via the Arizona Republic:

Chris Paul showed in the season opener why Phoenix traded four players and a future first-round pick for him.

Devin Booker showed the clutch gene he had on full display in the bubble.

The Suns showed they can close out a playoff team in a tight game as they used a 5-0 spurt to break a tie in a 106-102 victory Wednesday night over Dallas at the renovated Phoenix Suns Arena.

After Booker hit a free throw to put the Suns up a point, Paul connected on his patented fading jumper. Then Booker followed with a basket to put Phoenix up 105-100 with 40.6 seconds left.

Booker scored a team-high 22 points while Paul added eight points, five assists and four rebounds. Mikal Bridges chipped in 18 as Phoenix had six players score in double figures in shooting 48.1% from the field.

CP3 shot just 3-of-9 for eight points, four rebounds, five assists and two steals. He played under 28 minutes.

For the Mavs, Luka Doncic put up 32 points, eight rebounds and five assists, but on 26 FG attempts. And with Kristaps Porzingis starting the season on the injured list, no other Mav scored above 12 points.

Chris Paul to make Suns debut tonight in preseason

Chris Paul will reportedly make his debut in a Phoenix Suns uniform tonight in preseason. Via Arizona Sports:

After not playing in the Phoenix Suns’ preseason opener on Saturday against the Jazz, Chris Paul said he’s playing Monday night in Utah.

The point guard was listed as questionable on the injury report with right ankle soreness, the same ailment that had him out on Saturday, but the 35-year-old said after shootaround he will make his debut.

Phoenix stayed in Utah and will play the Jazz again on Monday, a new twist in the NBA schedule for the 2020-21 season during the COVID-19 pandemic that will see teams playing the same matchup in the same arena in back-to-back games.

Thunder reportedly close to trading Chris Paul to Suns

Veteran star NBA guard Chris Paul may be on the move from Oklahoma City to Phoenix.

According to ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski, the Suns and Thunder are close to agreeing to a trade that would send CP3 to the Suns.

In return for Paul, the Thunder would reportedly receive Ricky Rubio, Kelly Oubre Jr., Ty Jerome, Jalen Lecque and a 2020 first round draft pick.

The Thunder finished 5th in the Western conference last season, but are apparently looking to rebuild.

The Suns tied with the Grizzlies for the 10th best record in the West last season, but are on the rise. By adding Paul, they’ll be adding to their age, but also to their experience and ability to compete for a playoff spot right away.

Paul is 35 years old, averaged 17.6 points, 5.0 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game last season. He’s on a very expensive contract that will pay him over $41 million in 2020-21, with a player option to make over $44 million in 2021-22.

Suns mentioned in Chris Paul trade talks

Here’s Arizona Sports with a quick Suns note as the league prepares to open up for signinigs, trades and all other transactions:

On Monday at 10 a.m. Mountain Time, the NBA trade freeze will be lifted and teams can begin to deal players, according to the New York Times’ Marc Stein…

The Phoenix Suns have been involved in trade rumors surrounding Oklahoma City Thunder guard Chris Paul. Such a deal, which would likely require Phoenix to send away Ricky Rubio and Kelly Oubre, would be allowed to be completed at that time should the two sides agree to a trade.

Months worth of NBA offseason moves are about to happen in the next few weeks.

Inside Hoops will be updating constantly.

On what a Chris Paul trade to the Knicks might look like

Should the Knicks be interested in a legendary point guard who is past his prime and at the tail end of his NBA career? Probably not. But if the team does pursue this deal, here’s what it may look like, per the New York Post:

If Knicks president Leon Rose takes the leap for 35-year-old Chris Paul, he may have to give up on Kevin Knox, according to an NBA source.

The Thunder are motivated to deal Paul and his massive contract after deciding upon a rebuilding campaign following Billy Donovan’s firing. Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti likely will want a first-round pick and a young prospect still on his rookie contract, multiple league officials believe.

According to the source, that young player preferably would be Knox, the ninth pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, who is coming off a disappointing sophomore campaign.

The Knicks have a trove of first-round picks to deal (seven first-round picks in the next four drafts). The belief, however, is that they would prefer to keep the 20-year-old Knox in any Paul scenario and offer up either of their 2017 lottery-pick point guards, Frank Ntilikina or Dennis Smith Jr., both of whom will be restricted free agents in 2021.

We don’t see how it makes any sense for the Knicks to pursue CP3 at this time in their rebuild, especially if it means giving up any first round draft picks.

Chris Paul, Jaylen Brown, Harrison Barnes, George Hill and Dwight Powell receive NBA Cares honor

Sacramento Kings forward Harrison Barnes, Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown, Milwaukee Bucks guard George Hill, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Chris Paul and Dallas Mavericks forward-center Dwight Powell have received the 2019-20 End-of-Season NBA Cares Community Assist Award. This in recognition of their continued commitment to positively impacting their communities through sustained efforts over the course of the season, the NBA announced today.

This year’s end-of-season award recognizes five players whose exemplary work advanced social justice and provided COVID-19 relief and support, reflecting the longstanding passion of NBA players to give back to their communities and stand up for the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion.

The five recipients made concerted efforts throughout the 2019-20 season – which extended nearly a full calendar year including the league’s hiatus and restart – to leverage their platforms and voices to engage, empower and support different communities amidst the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic and social justice movement following continued incidents of racialized violence against Black men and women. Each winning player will receive $10,000 to their charity of choice, a donation from the NBA and Kaiser Permanente.

2019-20 All-NBA teams announced

Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James have been unanimously selected to the 2019-20 All-NBA First Team.

James has set the NBA record with his 16th All-NBA Team selection, which includes a record 13 selections to the First Team, two to the Second Team and one to the Third Team. He passed 15-time All-NBA Team selections Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan.

Antetokounmpo, the 2019-20 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, and James both received All-NBA First Team votes on all 100 ballots to finish with 500 points each. Named to the All-NBA Team for the fourth time, Antetokounmpo has earned his second First Team honor.

The 2019-20 All-NBA First Team also features Houston Rockets guard James Harden (474 points; 89 First Team votes), Lakers forward-center Anthony Davis (455 points; 79 First Team votes) and Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Dončić (416 points; 59 First Team votes).

Harden and Davis have been voted to the All-NBA First Team for the sixth and fourth time, respectively. Dončić is making his All-NBA Team debut in his second season. He is the first player selected to the All-NBA First Team in either his first or second season since Duncan in 1998-99. Dončić, 21, also becomes the sixth player named to the All-NBA First Team at age 21 or younger, joining Kevin Durant (2009-10), James (2005-06), Duncan (1997-98), Rick Barry (1965-66) and Max Zaslofsky (1946-47).

The 2019-20 All-NBA Second Team consists of LA Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (372 points), Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić (311), Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard (284), Oklahoma City Thunder guard Chris Paul (199) and Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam (168).

The 2019-20 All-NBA Third Team is composed of Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (153 points), Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler (147), Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (110), Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons (61) and Rockets guard Russell Westbrook (56).

Siakam, Tatum and Simmons join Dončić as first-time selections to the All-NBA Team. Paul and Westbrook have been voted to the All-NBA Team for the ninth time each. Lillard and Leonard have earned their fifth and fourth All-NBA Team selections, respectively. This marks the third All-NBA Team honor for both Butler and Gobert and the second for Jokić.

The All-NBA Team was selected by a global panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters. Players were awarded five points for each vote to the All-NBA First Team, three points for each vote to the Second Team and one point for each vote to the Third Team. Voters selected two guards, two forwards and one center for each team, choosing players at the position where they play regularly. Players who received votes at multiple positions were slotted at the position where they received the most votes.

The voting was conducted based on regular-season games played through March 11. The seeding games, which were played July 30 – Aug. 14 as part of the 2019-20 season restart, did not count toward voting for the All-NBA Team or the league’s other traditional end-of-season awards.

On the last Thunder game before league play was put on hold

Here’s the Oklahoman editorializing on the last game the OKC Thunder played before league play was put on hold, a Sunday, March 8 105-104 win against the Celtics in Boston, with comments from point guard Chris Paul:

After the 105-104 win, Paul told Thunder sideline reporter Nick Gallo that he hadn’t gotten that excited in a long time. Paul also talked about how great a win it was, how much fun the team was having, how together everyone was.

I knew that game was in the final days before the coronavirus shut down the NBA, then all of sports in this country, but since the past few weeks feel like a few years, I couldn’t remember if the Thunder played any more games after that game in Boston.

I went to check my calendar.

(Yes, I’m old — I still keep a written calendar in a day planner.)

That game in Boston was Sunday, March 8. The Thunder then had two days off before a home game Wednesday, March 11 against the Jazz.

You know what happened there.

So, that game at Boston, that masterful win against the Celtics was the last time the Thunder played.

That win was OKC’s 8th in their last 10 games. It was their third win in a row, for a 40-24 record, tying them with the Rockets for the 5th best winning percentage in the Western conference.

Chris Paul out with hamstring injury

Following an MRI yesteday afternoon, Dr. Steven Flores of Memorial Hermann has diagnosed veteran star Rockets guard Chris Paul with a Grade-2 left hamstring strain.

Paul will be re-evaluated in approximately two weeks.

The injury was sustained during the second quarter of Thursday’s game against the Heat in Miami. It was a close game, that the Rockets wound up losing, 101-99. Paul played 12 minutes, totaling four points and four assists.

Paul has played in 26 games this season, averaging 15.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game. He’s shooting just 41.5% FG, which is by far his lowest in years.

The Rockets are just 16-15 so far this season, which through Friday’s games would place them 9th in the Western conference. They have suffered a massive dropoff in defensive efficiency this season from last year.

Clippers trade Chris Paul to Rockets

Clippers trade Chris Paul to Rockets

The L.A. Clippers announced today the team has acquired guard Patrick Beverley, forward Sam Dekker, center Montrez Harrell, guard Darrun Hilliard, guard DeAndre Liggins, guard Lou Williams, forward Kyle Wiltjer and a 2018 First Round Pick from the Houston Rockets in exchange for guard Chris Paul.

“Since winning back-to-back championships, the pursuit of a third title has remained the ultimate goal for our franchise,” said Rockets owner Leslie Alexander. “We feel that combining two of the league’s greatest players in James Harden and Chris Paul, operating in Coach D’Antoni’s system, gives us a championship caliber team that will compete at the highest level for years to come.

“On behalf of the Rockets organization and our fans I’d also like to thank Sam, Montrezl, Kyle, and Lou for helping make this past season a special one. I’d also like to personally express my deepest gratitude to Pat Beverley, who, for the past five seasons, always left everything he had out on the court.”

Paul (6-0, 175) has racked up a multitude of honors across his 12 NBA seasons split between the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets and the Clippers. A nine-time All-Star, Paul has also been named All-NBA First Team four times, Second Team three times and Third Team once. In addition, Paul has been named NBA All-Defensive First Team seven times and Second Team twice and helped Team USA capture a gold medal in both the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

For his career, Paul has started all 834 of his games played, while averaging 18.7 points, 9.9 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 2.29 steals while shooting 47.3% from the floor, 37.0% from 3-point range, and 86.6% from the line with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 4.08. He is the only player in NBA history with career averages of at least 19.0 points, 9.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 2.00 steals. There are only three other players in NBA history with career averages of at least 19.0 points, 9.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds (Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, and John Wall).

Paul has averaged a point/assist double-double in six of his 12 seasons, including three of the past four. That is already the fourth-highest total in NBA history, trailing only John Stockton (12), Magic Johnson (9), and Steve Nash (7). Four of Nash’s seven seasons averaging a double-double came while playing for current Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni in Phoenix. Nash was also named NBA MVP twice during his four seasons with D’Antoni.

Among players who were active last season, Paul has the most career assists (8,251) and steals (1,912) and ranks 10th in NBA history in assists and 15th in steals. He joins Jason Kidd, Gary Payton and Stockton as the only players with at least 8,000 assists and 1,900 steals.

Paul has hit at least 120 3-pointers in each of the past three seasons after not having more than 92 in a season prior for his career. He also shot 39.3% from behind-the-arc over the past three seasons after shooting 35.7% his first nine seasons. Paul averaged a career-high 2.0 3FGM on a career-best 41.1% shooting in 2016-17.

Earlier today the Rockets completed five separate trades with Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Portland:

· Houston acquired forward Ryan Kelly from Atlanta in exchange for cash considerations.
· Houston acquired guard DeAndre Liggins from Dallas in exchange for cash considerations.
· Houston acquired guard Darrun Hilliard from Detroit in exchange for cash considerations.
· Houston acquired forward Shawn Long from Philadelphia in exchange for a future second round pick and cash considerations
· Houston acquired guard Tim Quarterman from Portland in exchange for cash considerations.

Beverley, 28, was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team in 2017, the NBA All-Defensive Second Team in 2014 and recently received the 2017 NBA Hustle Award. Last season with Houston, Beverly averaged career-highs in rebounds (5.9), assists (4.2) and steals (1.48). Over five seasons with the Rockets, he appeared in 291 games, holding career averages of 9.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.26 steals in 28.5 minutes. Initially selected by the Los Angeles Lakers with the 42nd pick in the 2009 NBA Draft out of the University of Arkansas, Beverley spent three-plus seasons playing internationally in Greece and Russia, before joining Houston in December 2012. Beverley averaged 13.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists in his two collegiate seasons with the Razorbacks.

Dekker, 23, appeared in 80 games over his first two NBA seasons with the Rockets, averaging 6.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.0 assists, while shooting 47.3% from the field. The University of Wisconsin stand-out spent three collegiate seasons with the Badgers, holding averages of 12.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 27.9 minutes and led Wisconsin to back-to-back Final Four appearances in his sophomore and junior seasons. Dekker was a two-time Second-Team All-Big Ten selection (2014 & 2015), and his 1,363 points rank 17th all-time in Wisconsin school history.

Harrell, 23, holds career averages of 6.9 points and 2.9 rebounds, while shooting 65.1% from the field in 97 appearances over two seasons with the Rockets. The 32nd pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, Harrell was a member of Louisville’s 2013 NCAA Championship team, earned First Team All-AAC honors in 2014 and received the Karl Malone Award as the nation’s top power forward as a senior in 2015.

The 2015 NBA Sixth Man of the Year, Williams, 30, averaged a career-high 17.5 points in only 24.6 minutes per game last season with Houston and Los Angeles. In 12 NBA seasons with Philadelphia, Toronto, Los Angeles and Houston, he holds career averages of 12.8 points, 2.9 assists and 2.1 rebounds in 782 career games with 90 starts.

Originally the 45th overall pick by Philadelphia in the 2005 NBA Draft out of South Gwinnett High School near Atlanta, Williams was a 2005 McDonald’s All-American and was named the 2005 Naismith Prep Player of the Year.

Hilliard, 24, holds career averages of 3.6 points and 1.0 rebounds in 77 appearances over two seasons with the Detroit Pistons. The Bethlehem, Pennsylvania native was selected with the 38th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft by Detroit.

Liggins, 29, holds career averages of 2.1 points and 1.5 rebounds in 119 appearances over four seasons with Orlando, Oklahoma City, Miami, Cleveland and Dallas.

Wiltjer, 24, averaged 0.9 points and 0.7 rebounds in 14 games last season as a rookie in Houston.