The Los Angeles Clippers have announced that they are sending veteran point guard Chris Paul and that he is no longer a member of the team.
Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank texted ESPN that “We are parting ways with Chris and he will no longer be with the team,” Frank said. “We will work with him on the next step of his career.”
“Chris is a legendary Clipper who has had a historic career. I want to make one thing very clear. No one is blaming Chris for our underperformance. I accept responsibility for the record we have right now. There are a lot of reasons why we’ve struggled. We’re grateful for the impact Chris has made on the franchise.”
LA has lost 14 of their last 16 games including 5 straight contests, leading to players venting their frustrations to the media, including Kawhi Leonard who openly mused about a lack of “talent” available for the team.
Nevertheless, the move shocked many given Paul’s announcement that this season would be his final NBA campaign. The 40 year old holds several Clippers franchise records including total assists and steals per game, and has been a long time fan favourite.
While the nature of the abrupt break up remains murky at the time, Paul did take to social media to make a cryptic post at 3am ET announcing the split. Sources indicate that the 12x All-Star is less than enthusiastic about the parting of ways.
It also remains unclear whether the team plans to buy out the remainder of Paul’s contract, allowing him to potentially catch on with another team, or whether they will simply pay him to stay away from the team but retain his rights.
The Clippers are next in action on Wednesday against the Atlanta Hawks in their first game without Paul.
Photo: nick_la. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.