The Clippers surprisingly decided to release veteran point guard Chris Paul overnight, sending him home ahead of their game Wednesday against Atlanta. Paul returned to the Clippers over the summer and planned to spend his final NBA season with the team, but has been cut amid the team’s 5–16 start to the season.
The morning after the news was released, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Paul had been vocal about holding the front office, coaches and players accountable, which the Clippers found to be “disruptive.” Charania added that Paul has not been on speaking terms with head coach Ty Lue in weeks.
Former Clipper Lou Williams echoed a similar message and Chris Haynes reported that Paul requested to meet with Lue about being viewed as a “negative presence on the team,” but Lue would not meet with him.
Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank, who initially released the statement announcing Paul’s release, addressed some of those reports later on Wednesday.
“I’d like to keep some of those things in-house,” Frank said, via Joey Linn. “Chris has a very good leadership style. He’s led a lot of teams. And he’s led a lot of teams as being one of the best players, if not the best player on the team. It just, the role — some moves you make, you have great intentions. And some work and some don’t. And I own that. And this one just didn’t work at this time.”
“It had nothing to do with one incident or one meeting that did or did not happen,” Frank also said of the reports. “Some things we have to keep in-house. It didn't come down to one incident or meeting; it just wasn't the right fit.”
Frank noted that they made the decision to move on from Paul on Sunday, and set the time to meet with him on Tuesday. His conversation with Paul lasted three hours before they made the announcement.
“Chris Paul had a legendary career, legendary Clipper,” Frank said, via Law Murray of “We did not make this move because of our underperformance. … We are not scapegoating Chris Paul.”
