{"id":322819,"date":"2025-12-03T14:25:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T14:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/322819\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T14:25:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T14:25:12","slug":"clippers-announce-theyre-parting-ways-with-chris-paul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/322819\/","title":{"rendered":"Clippers Announce They’re ‘Parting Ways’ With Chris Paul"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Clippers have put out a statement announcing that they\u2019re \u201cparting ways\u201d with future Hall-of-Famer Chris Paul<\/a>, who signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract with the team over the summer for what will be his final year in the NBA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link<\/a>) first reported the news at around the same time Paul posted an Instagram story<\/a> that reads, \u201cJust found out I\u2019m being sent home,\u201d accompanied by a peace-sign emoji.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are parting ways with Chris and he will no longer be with the team,\u201d Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said in a statement to Law Murray of the Athletic<\/a>. \u201cWe will work with him on the next step of his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cChris 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\u2019ve struggled. We\u2019re grateful for the impact Chris has made on the franchise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sources confirm to Murray that the decision to part ways with the Clippers wasn\u2019t Paul\u2019s and wasn\u2019t initiated by him.<\/p>\n

A 12-time All-Star who made five of those All-Star appearances during his first stint with the Clippers from 2011-17, Paul returned to Los Angeles for his age-40 season in the hopes of providing his former team with some reliable depth behind star point guard James Harden<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, the season hasn\u2019t gone as planned for Paul or the Clippers, who are off to a miserable 5-16 start. The 21-year veteran averaged just 2.9 points and 3.3 assists in 14.3 minutes per game across 16 outings as a Clipper, shooting 32.1% from the floor. He fell out of the rotation for several games in November and has only returned in recent weeks as L.A. deals with a handful of injuries to key players.<\/p>\n

Despite the apparent split between the two sides, the Clippers are unlikely to waive Paul anytime soon unless he agrees to a buyout. The team is currently operating just $1.28MM below its first-apron hard cap and doesn\u2019t have the ability to sign a free agent to a prorated minimum-salary contract until January 7<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since L.A. is carrying just 14 players on its standard roster, waiving Paul would drop that number to 13 and would require the club to get back to the 14-man minimum within two weeks. Given those roster and cap limitations, the Clippers will likely wait until Paul becomes trade-eligible on December 15<\/a> and explore the market for him at that time, assuming he\u2019s not open to negotiating a buyout.<\/p>\n

According to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (Twitter link<\/a>), the Knicks have discussed the idea of targeting Paul in a trade to add point guard depth. New York is dealing with a hard cap of its own and would need to send out at least a minimum-salary player in order to accommodate Paul.<\/p>\n

As Murray writes, this development with Paul represents the latest instance of the Clippers unceremoniously divorcing from a key figure of their \u201cLob City\u201d era. Back in January 2018, the team traded Blake Griffin<\/a> to Detroit just a few months into his new five-year, maximum-salary contract with L.A.<\/p>\n

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