This Chris Paul saga hasn’t stopped being weird yet.
The Los Angeles Clippers sent Paul home from the team two months ago. But he hasn’t been traded, or released. He’s still a member of the Clippers.
The NBA trade deadline is Thursday, so something has to give at some point, right?
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The latest update from ESPN’s Ramona Shelbourne isn’t particularly encouraging, though.
“It’s been nearly two months since the LA Clippers announced they’d parted ways with future Hall of Fame point guard Chris Paul, but if you step into the team’s home locker room, his locker is still saved and lit up like he’s a part of the team,” Shelbourne writes. “That’s because technically he is, and there has been no substantial movement toward finding him a new home, sources close to the situation said. Paul has been training and will be ready to perform if he’s included in a trade before Thursday’s deadline. The Clippers are still amenable to helping him find a new home to play his final season.”
The main reason that nothing happened immediately when the Clippers sent Paul home was that for a newly signed player to be traded, it had to be Dec. 15, and it wasn’t yet. Since Paul signed back to L.A. in the offseason he needed at least that Dec. 15 date to be sent to a new team.
Except it’s February now.
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Shelbourne indicates that Paul is ready to play if sent somewhere new, which likely would come at very little trade cost for the acquiring team.
The reality is that at this point, the Clippers would pretty much give Paul up for anything. They clearly have no plans to use him the rest of the way.
And it’d be a way nicer ending to Paul’s NBA career if he actually got to get on the court again, as opposed to whatever is happening with the Clippers right now.
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