18. Chris Paul, PG, Phoenix Suns – Drawing fouls within the rules
Chris Paul has played 37,757 career regular season minutes, spread over 1,090 games. That ranks fifth among all active players (fun fact: Thaddeus Young is 10th on that same list. Way to go Thad!). He has 11 All-Star appearances, is a 10-time All-NBA selection and led the league in assists four times. Nine times he was named to an All-Defensive Team, and he led the league in steals a whopping six times.
At this point in his career, therefore, there is not much else for CP3 to work on. His game is well established, he knows what he is good at, and the game-to-game changes are based on chance over development. Even so, this season injects something new for Paul to learn, and that is how to play with the new foul-drawing rules.
The NBA is emphasizing penalties for offensive players who commit unnatural acts to draw an offensive foul. That’s the tagline of his career! He should be ticked that many are calling it the “Trae Young” rule. Can Paul still find ways to trick officials into blowing their whistle? Can he develop new tricks that find the cracks and loopholes? Paul was suddenly given a whole new growth track to embark upon.