The Los Angeles Clippers recently brought back Chris Paul on a one-year deal for what is likely to be the final year of his legendary NBA career. He's now back in Los Angeles, where he helped bring the Clippers to relevance in the "Lob City" days with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.
One thing that Paul is ready for, besides just being around his family again, is to play for Tyronn Lue again. Lue wasn't his head coach with the Clippers, but he was an assistant on those teams.
"I'm gonna tell you, I'm excited to play for T-Lue," Paul said in his introductory press conference. "People probably don't remember T-Lue was my assistant coach when I was here with the Clippers, and we stayed close over the years, or whatnot." Paul was traded after the 2016-17 season, and Lue was named head coach in 2020.
"And what makes T-Lue different from a lot of coaches, it’s a lot of great coaches in this league, but T-Lue is one of the coaches that I think, you have to prepare for him too," he added.
Chris Pau
NBA player Chris Paul looks on as Team CP3 plays a game against Nightrydas at Nike EYBL at the Memphis Sports & Events Center on Saturday, May 17, 2025. / Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Lue was originally with the Clippers in the 2013-14 season as an assistant coach before he joined the Cleveland Cavaliers as an associate head coach, and eventually became the Cavs' head coach.
During that season, the Clippers went 57-25, finishing third in the West while leading the NBA in PPG. They beat the young Golden State Warriors in the first round before falling to the OKC Thunder in the conference semifinals.
"It's weird being [on] other teams playing against the Clippers," Paul said, "because a lot of times you just scouting, like, how do we stop Kawhi [Leonard]? How do we stop this? Just know a lot of teams respect T-Lue and his ability, so I'm excited to be over here too."
Lue is one of the most highly regarded coaches in the NBA, and guided the Clippers to a surprising 50-win season. They lost in the first round of the playoffs again, but they lost to the Denver Nuggets in seven games, who gave the eventual champion OKC Thunder, all they could handle.
Chris Paul is back in a Clippers uniform 🔥
(via @LAClippers) pic.twitter.com/dLZXjMKNfp
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) July 28, 2025
The Clippers could be even better this season after adding Paul, Bradley Beal, John Collins, and Brook Lopez while only losing Norman Powell from their main rotation. They're an older team, but as long as Kawhi Leonard can play a reasonable amount of games, they will be a threat in the Western Conference.
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