NBA All-Star guard Chris Paul made headlines on Saturday after major news broke about his basketball career. After the Los Angeles Clippers star concludes playing this season, his 21st, he’ll officially retire from the league.
Due to the length of his career and the number of teams he played for, CP3 has had many teammates and is well-known in the NBA. The Clippers were his home for a significant stretch of his career, and is ultimately where he’s wrapping things up. In his early days with the team, JJ Redick, now coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, was his teammate.
Amid a Lakers’ practice session for an away game against the Utah Jazz, reporters asked Redick to share his reaction to the news that Chris Paul is retiring after the season. Redick quickly told the media he wasn’t going to “craft a narrative” about CP3’s legacy, but he did have some strong words about his former teammate.
“I just know him as a human being, a teammate, and a brother. The arc of our relationship is very interesting, from going from a decade-plus of quite literally hating each other, to feeling like he’s a part of my family,” Redick said, adding, “Getting to watch him evolve as a player, as a competitor, as a leader, in the later stages, particularly after I retired, has actually been really fun for me.”
He also called it “rare” how CP3 has grown as a person, noting he was the “master of squeezing the juice out of every possession” and “squeezed the juice out of his career” for over two decades. Redick reflected on how impressive it is for a player of Paul’s size to compete at this high level as long as he has.
“The game will miss him, and I’m sure he’ll have some amazing opportunities in retirement,” the Lakers coach told reporters.
Redick joked that they had their battles, which likely included Clippers practices and, of course, their competitive days as college basketball players in the ACC. While Paul starred at Wake Forest, Redick played for the Duke Blue Devils within the same timeframe.
“I always talk about teams feeling like an organism that functions well together. When a team is functioning really well together, there’s a connective tissue to that, and I don’t think there was a player that I played with that I felt more of a connective tissue with than Chris Paul,” he said.
While talking to reporters, Redick also admitted, “I hate saying this, but I hope he doesn't win an NBA Championship, because that would mean the Clippers win an NBA Championship and we don't, but to me he's the ultimate winner.”
Paul began his NBA career with the New Orleans Hornets in 2005, before going to the Clippers in 2011. He spent six years with the Los Angeles Lakers, and Redick joined the team in 2013, remaining there for four years alongside Paul.
Their NBA careers and overall paths in the sport are also very different, with CP3 being a 12-time All-Star and Olympic Gold medalist, among other accolades. He also served as NBA president from 2013 to 2021.
Following the big news, Paul's retirement tour began with a stop in Charlotte on Saturday, where he faced his former team, the Hornets. The All-Star guard finished with three points, eight assists, and four rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench.
CP3 will see his former teammate, Redick, on Tuesday, Nov. 25, for the first of four meetings between in-state rivals, the Clippers and Lakers, this season.
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