Chris Paul has thoroughly embraced his role as a mentor.
In his first season in Oklahoma City, he’s taken Shai Gilgeous-Alexander under his wing.
Although he jokingly called himself a “burden” to Gilgeous-Alexander at times, Paul said he’s started to see moments where SGA “gets it” and pointed to a specific instance in the Rising Stars Challenge where Gilgeous-Alexander hustled to get the ball inbounds and up the court because he’s seen Paul do it in games.
But Paul’s mentorship extends far beyond his own team and it’s been going on much longer than just this year.
Second-year Cavaliers guard, Collin Sexton, sat down with HoopsHype at MTN DEW’s Courtside Studios in Chicago during All-Star Weekend. He told Alex Kennedy that Paul is one of the veterans that’s had the biggest impact on him both on and off the court.
“My relationship with Chris goes back to high school when I played on his teams (Team CP3). Ever since then, we’ve just been building that relationship. I talk to him every week and just pick his brain and figure out how he feels about certain plays and things that I can incorporate into my game. It’s cool.”
In addition to Paul, Sexton also said he was influenced by Kevin Love and Avery Johnson because, “those guys, they’ve been where I want to get to. I just take bits and pieces of their game so that I can learn from them and understand the game even more.”
Sexton played in the Rising Stars Game, scoring 21 points in 20 minutes in Team USA’s 151-131 win over Team World.
