Chris Paul: 5 potential landing spots in free agency
1. San Antonio Spurs
No one would blame Chris Paul for taking his $200 million pay day, remaining in Los Angeles and trying to end the curse of the Clippers franchise. But if he prioritizes winning over everything else, the San Antonio Spurs are his best option.
The Spurs would have to do a little bit of financial maneuvering to be able to offer Paul anything close to a max deal, most likely by letting Patty Mills walk in free agency and hoping — no, praying — that Pau Gasol opts out of the $16.2 million remaining on the last year of his contract.
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However, general manager R.C. Buford has created the same kind of salary cap wiggle room in the past, deftly moving to clear out enough space to sign LaMarcus Aldridge in 2015. He could very easily do so again, especially since it was encouraging how the Spurs’ bench bounced back so quickly despite shedding some important members of the second unit to land Aldridge.
Tony Parker‘s game was already on the decline before his season-ending quadriceps injury, and as he turns 35 years old this week, the Spurs need to be thinking about a long-term replacement — even for the greatest point guard in franchise history.
TP could thrive as a backup. Mills played extremely well this past season, but he might not be good enough to be a full-time starting point guard, especially after potentially playing himself out of the Spurs’ price range this summer. Rookie Dejounte Murray has shown signs of promise, but he’s not ready to be handed the reins to a 60-win team.
Chris Paul would be the perfect stopgap, bringing instant offensive firepower, defensive prowess, veteran poise and exquisite facilitation to a team that already excels in all of those areas. Him and Gregg Popovich would spell trouble for the rest of the league, especially with scorers like Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge to feed.
Going to San Antonio would require great financial sacrifice on Chris Paul’s part, but he wouldn’t have to live under the pressure of being “the guy” anymore and would probably enjoy Pop’s systematic resting of older players to keep them fresh for the postseason.
CP3 would finally get that conference finals appearance under his belt to cement his place as one of the NBA’s greatest point guards of all time (which shouldn’t be in doubt anyway), and as the Warriors’ reign has proven, only a team willing to partake in this arms race of superstar players can hope to compete.
Next: 5 potential landing spots for Kyle Lowry in free agency
If Chris Paul somehow becomes the next starting point guard for the San Antonio Spurs, the rest of the league will be regretting all those “choke artist” hot takes very soon.