The Clippers on Tuesday signaled the end of guard Chris Paul’s second tenure in Los Angeles when they sent the future Hall of Famer home and the team’s president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank told ESPN in a statement that player and organization were “parting ways.”
The news stunned the basketball world, including two of Paul’s most high-profile teammates, James Harden and Kawhi Leonard. It also angered one of Paul’s longtime friends, former NBA star and current NBA on NBC analyst Carmelo Anthony.
Anthony felt the Clippers’ decision was especially disrespectful given the heights they had enjoyed during Paul’s first tenure with the team from 2011 to ‘17, as well as Paul’s upcoming retirement at the end of the 2025–26 season.
“... Four months to go,” Anthony said. “So you really got four months to go—maybe four-and-a-half—before the season is over. And this is why I say there's no level of respect. When it’s time for you to go, legacy don't mean s--- in a sense. Because when they want you out, they don't think about legacy. What are you about to get for CP by sending him home? What do you get out of sending CP home?
“What do you get? Unless you’re coming to him and saying, ‘Hey CP, we going to let you go and we want you to go and try to get on another team, be a free agent, try to win a championship.’ Unless you’re telling him that, then I don't want to hear nothing else. You can’t send Chris Paul home.”
Anthony believes Paul should embrace retirement
Paul could be traded—though not until Dec. 15—waived, or have his contract bought out. But Anthony, a close friend of Paul's whom the Clippers guard has called a “brother,” thinks Paul should call it a career.
“Go be with your family, bro,” Anthony said. “Go be with your family. Lock in. Lock into Chris. Lock into your family, your kids. It’s going to be an ego hit because you ain’t going to want to go out like that. You ain’t going to want to go out like that because it's embarrassing. But what’s going to keep you strong is your kids.
“The fact that you can take your daughter to school, you can take your son to school, you going to start realizing the stress is getting less and less and less. I ain’t got to wake up the next day. I ain’t got to think about no shootaround. I ain’t got to think about competing. I ain’t got to think about what anybody got to say about basketball because now I get to live through my son right there.”
Paul in November had said he intented to retire at the conclusion of the 2025–26 campaign. A 12-time All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist, Paul sits 36th on the all-time scoring list and second on the all-time assists list.
More NBA on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Carmelo Anthony Rips Clippers for Sending Chris Paul Home.
