Why Chris Paul still has something left to prove in his illustrious career
Since coming into the NBA in 2005, Chris Paul has been heralded as one of the top point guards in the game. Yet, the star point guard finds himself in search of the league’s ultimate prize, as Paul gets prepared for his first season with the Houston Rockets.
Over the last decade, Chris Paul has proven that he is a Point God in every sense of the word.
The 6’0″, 175-pound product out of Wake Forest has exhibited his ability to handle, shoot and pass the basketball on countless occasions from the moment he came into the league.
He’s made highlight plays that visually look impossible a part of his ritual act for the last 12 seasons.
However, there is still something that is haunting the 32-year-old Paul — despite the fact that he is considered by many as one of the game’s complete point guards, and is a pure maestro when it comes to directing an offense on the floor.
It’s something in which the nine-time All-Star is desperately seeking to check off of his resume and prove to his critics that he can do for the last several years and counting.
Since coming into the forefront as one the game’s premier stars, Paul has found himself having to answer why he has failed in his quest, to lead his respective team one step closer to an NBA championship every offseason.
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Fighting off the narrative that no matter who he decides to team up with, that he will never emerge victorious with the crown come season’s end.
While many members of Paul’s camp might deem this as a matter that should not fall completely upon him, it cannot be denied that this has indeed become the foregone balance scale on which his Hall of Fame career hangs upon.
During his days as a member of the Los Angeles Clippers, Paul was able to lead an organizational resurgence from the moment he arrived via trade from New Orleans in 2011. Teaming up with young forces Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan for six seasons, he created what became known as Lob City, guiding them to a franchise-record five consecutive 50-win seasons in the Western Conference.
Yet, the pieces never appeared to fit or stay in perfect sync with one another.
The Clippers would fail to make it past the conference semifinals during that time, as late-game blunders, combined with epic collapses and injuries, helped mark the end of an era for a franchise whose bad luck once appeared to be changing under CP3’s watch.
Now, Paul currently finds himself with the Houston Rockets.
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Alongside one of the game’s premier playmakers in James Harden — whom Paul thought so highly of teaming up with that he was willing to forego free agency this summer and opt into the final year of his contract, helping facilitate the trade that brought him to Clutch City.
He has a chance to compete for the Larry O’Brien trophy, one item that Paul appears to be hellbent on seizing sooner rather than later.
“We talked about the ultimate goal, and that’s winning,” Paul said to reporters in his introductory press conference with the Rockets last month.
“Neither one of us have had the opportunity to do that. We talked about how good that would feel. That’s probably what I’m most excited about…to be on a journey with someone who wants it as bad as I do.”
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How the two stars will mesh together remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: Chris Paul is a man on a mission with something to prove. As the player who was once considered as the quintessential point guard of our generation, he still has time left on the clock to make a play for the ultimate prize in Houston.