Ramona ShelburneDec 16, 2025, 07:00 AM ETCloseSenior writer for ESPN.comSpent seven years at the Los Angeles Daily NewsFollow on X
play1:22Lawrence Frank: ‘We are not scapegoating Chris Paul’Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank discusses the team’s decision to part ways with Chris Paul.
play2:37Stephen A. doesn’t hold back on Clippers for treatment of Chris PaulStephen A. Smith sounds off on Lawrence Frank and the Clippers for disrespecting Chris Paul by parting ways with him in the middle of a road trip.
What’s next for Chris Paul, Clippers? (1:45)Brian Windhorst joins Rich Eisen to break down possible next steps for Chris Paul and the Clippers. (1:45)
Lawrence Frank: ‘We are not scapegoating Chris Paul’Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank discusses the team’s decision to part ways with Chris Paul.
Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank discusses the team’s decision to part ways with Chris Paul.
Stephen A. doesn’t hold back on Clippers for treatment of Chris PaulStephen A. Smith sounds off on Lawrence Frank and the Clippers for disrespecting Chris Paul by parting ways with him in the middle of a road trip.
Stephen A. Smith sounds off on Lawrence Frank and the Clippers for disrespecting Chris Paul by parting ways with him in the middle of a road trip.
Only a few hours had passed since LA Clippers president Lawrence Frank informed Paul that the organization was parting ways with the best player in franchise history — just 21 games into what was supposed to be a karmically and narratively pleasing retirement tour.
Instead, the season had devolved into disaster, for the 40-year-old future Hall of Fame point guard and for the team. LA was 5-16 and 14th in the Western Conference.
The move bewildered many in the NBA, including a man Paul had barely spoken to since the two led the Lob City Clippers, an era that had ended in 2017.
Paul called Griffin as soon as his plane landed. Via FaceTime, they added the third co-star of Lob City, DeAndre Jordan.
It marked the first time the three had been together in eight years, not since their Clippers era ended with Paul being dealt to Houston and Griffin’s shocking trade to Detroit just six months after he had signed a maximum contract extension.
The irony that this trauma bonding buried whatever had been between them all these years was not lost on any of them. Paul posted a screenshot of the FaceTime on Instagram showing all three former Clippers smiling.
Griffin has retired and moved on to a thriving career in television. Jordan is winding down his career at the end of the bench for the woeful New Orleans Pelicans. Paul had thought he was doing the same with the Clippers until the night before, when Frank told him that the decision to send him packing had already been made and that none of his arguments to stay mattered anymore. It was a nice story until it wasn’t.
What transpired instead was a toxic combination of miscalculations, miscommunication and shocking underperformance from a team many had picked as a dark horse in the loaded Western Conference.
But endings are rarely clean or painless in the NBA. And this one — for player and team — was born out of the most flammable combination in sports: misconceptions and dysfunction.
The Chris Paul reunion in Los Angeles was more than simply doomed from nearly the beginning; it might also serve as foreshadowing of a future for the Clippers even more challenging than their present.
“There really wasn’t one thing,” said one source close to the situation. “This isn’t like JR Smith throwing the soup in Cleveland.”
But there was a wild divergence in expectations of what Paul’s role on the team would be when he signed as a free agent on a one-year, $3.6 million contract this summer, multiple sources said.
The team envisioned Paul’s role as an end-of-the-bench, veteran leader who needed little maintenance, sources said.
As brilliant as stars James Harden and Leonard can be on the court — both are generally well-liked by teammates and respected — neither has ever been regarded as a vocal leader. No one on the current Clippers roster fits that description except Paul, which seemed to be part of the appeal of signing him.
Over the course of several discussions during the summer, Paul, who started 82 games last season for the San Antonio Spurs, had said he was OK with the outlines of that role, sources said. But he had also stressed that he wanted a chance to compete and that he’d do the best he could to be an extension of the coaching staff.
The reunion began with alignment. Paul flew to Phoenix directly from Carmelo Anthony’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Springfield, Massachusetts, to attend an offseason camp with Harden and other teammates, sources said. Once he returned to L.A., he invited players to his workouts and to his suite at SoFi Stadium to watch Los Angeles Rams games.
At media day, Paul was put forth as a credible voice as the franchise dealt with the fallout from a salary cap-circumvention investigation. It was precisely the type of role it seemed he’d been brought back to play.
“That’s how Chris is,” one executive with another team said. “He wears you out. He’s convinced he’s right — and he often is right, which kind of pisses you off — and he’ll go around to everyone until you agree with him.”
All this became even more pronounced in training camp, as Paul quickly became a standout as the leader of the second unit, which was routinely beating the starters.
“We were kicking their ass,” forward John Collins recently told ESPN. “Everyday we were kicking [the starters’] ass.”
Paul played 19 minutes a game during the preseason, averaging 8.3 points and 5.3 assists. It was a much heartier role than had been discussed in the summer.
“I think that’s where Ty went wrong,” said one source close to the situation, “because that really empowered Chris and changed the expectations.”
Lue liked Paul’s competitive spirit, and he played well in the time he was given. And the team needed him with Leonard, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Bradley Beal nursing injuries coming into the season.
“If all they wanted was a cheerleader,” the executive said, “why did they sign Chris Paul? I mean, they had him before. They knew what he was like.”
Lawrence Frank: ‘We are not scapegoating Chris Paul’
It was the kind of thing Paul would routinely do on other teams. But the Clippers’ locker room, full of veteran players and coaches, is not particularly active, even after wins, sources said. So Paul’s attempt to encourage dialogue fell flat.
A few nights later, after a win over New Orleans, Paul and his wife hosted a Halloween party for players and staffers in a club at the Intuit Dome. It was meant as a culture-building exercise, and afterward Frank and others commended Paul for doing it, despite only a handful of players attending, sources said.
Paul was benched for the second half of a game in Phoenix on Nov. 6, despite both Harden and Leonard being out of the lineup that night.
Frank, for his part, stressed that Paul’s style wasn’t in line with what they needed it to be — that his leadership was being perceived as subversive rather than helpful.
The call began with Paul asking Lue why he’d been benched for the second half of the Clippers’ game the night before, a game in which the Clippers led by three points at the half only to lose by 13.
Lue told Paul he was coming across as too critical of players and coaches and needed to understand — and own up to that.
A call that was meant to resolve festering issues and clarify roles ultimately did neither. Later that day, Lue informed Paul he would not be in the rotation for the next game.
He did not elaborate but with the team struggling defensively — LA’s top-five defense from a season ago had struggled against younger, faster offenses — and something had to be done to change the dynamic.
The next day, Nov. 8, during the game against the Suns, tensions spread to the bench. Paul and Van Gundy somehow found themselves shoulder to shoulder on the bench. It was the first game of what would be five consecutive DNP-CDs. For a long time, neither man said a word.
Van Gundy scoffed in response, multiple sources who witnessed the exchange said, and questioned Paul’s earnestness.
Both meetings ended well enough that Paul asked and was granted permission to talk to the team. Frank also said he’d try to facilitate a meeting with Lue.
On Nov. 11, an off day after a loss to the Atlanta Hawks, Paul stood in front of the team and apologized if he’d come off as too negative or divisive.
Stephen A. doesn’t hold back on Clippers for treatment of Chris Paul
The Clippers went just 2-13 in November, continuing to lose even after Paul returned to the rotation and Leonard returned from a foot injury.
During that stretch, on Nov. 22 Paul announced this would be his final year — officially turning the rest of this season into a retirement tour. He had tried to inform team owner Steve Ballmer of his impending decision, before he announced anything, but sources said they didn’t connect until afterward and that conversation ended up being their final one.
The Clippers wanted to honor him with a tribute video, but Paul told them it was the wrong message to highlight in the middle of a losing streak. So on Nov. 28, before what would prove to be the third to last game of his time with the Clippers, the team released a video.
Van Gundy had been upset the night before that Paul had openly questioned how the coaching staff had used Leonard’s limited minutes toward the end of the team’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks, their seventh in eight games. Leonard was coming off a minutes restriction and was defending a red-hot Klay Thompson, known for his movement without the ball. That took a lot of energy, Paul had argued.
Paul responded that he had only “suggested” switching Leonard’s defensive assignment because he had bumped up against his minutes restriction.
To prove his point, Paul stood up and walked down the aisle of the plane to Leonard and Kris Dunn and asked them if he’d suggested a change or actually changed the coverage, multiple sources who witnessed the interaction said.