L.A. makes deal to send unhappy Paul to Houston
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Clippers have agreed to trade disgruntled point guard Chris Paul to the Houston Rockets for guards Patrick Beverley and Lou Williams, forward Sam Dekker, center Montrezl Harrell and other players who do not have guaranteed contracts.
The Clippers also will get a first-round draft pick in 2018 from the Rockets as part of the deal, one NBA executive said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Paul informed the Clippers during a meeting Tuesday that he was planning to sign with the Rockets as a free agent, a Clippers executive said. But he agreed instead to exercise the opt-in clause of his contract, which would keep him with the Clippers next season at a salary of $24.2 million, clearing the way for the team to ship him to the Rockets.
On his Twitter account, Paul thanked the Clippers organization and the team's fans. He also wrote, “Unbelievable amount of emotions right now — I don't even know what to say. Lots of love and tears. I'm so blessed and thankful for the ability to play this game, this is the part that no one can prepare you for.”
The Clippers were hesitant about giving Paul a five-year, $205 million contract extension because he would have been making $46 million in the last year of the deal at 38 years old.
The Clippers acquired Paul before the 2011 season after a proposed trade sending him from the New Orleans Hornets to the Lakers fell apart after thenCommissioner David Stern vetoed it.
To acquire Paul, the Clippers sent Eric Gordon, Al-Farouq Aminu, Chris Kaman and a draft pick that eventually would become Austin Rivers to New Orleans.
In Paul, the team now had the established superstar it craved, pairing him with young big men DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin, who coined the term “Lob City” when being informed of the deal.
The Clippers instantly became a credible threat, winning their second playoff series since the franchise moved to California in 1978. However, they were quickly snuffed out in the second round, being swept by the San Antonio Spurs.
Paul would go on to be the All-Star Game's Most Valuable Player in 2013.
The team continued to pile up regular-season victories, winning 56 games the following year and 57 in Paul's third season, both franchise records. But even the addition of Doc Rivers as coach couldn't get the Clippers over what was becoming a familiar hurdle.
In the second round of the 2014 playoffs, the Clippers had a chance to take a 3-2 series lead over Oklahoma City, leading by 13 points late in the fourth quarter. But with pressure mounting, the Clippers wilted, with Paul unexpectedly in the center of it. Paul committed a pair of turnovers and a crucial foul in the final 20 seconds, tearfully taking responsibility for the loss after game.
The heartbreak got worse the following spring. In Game 7 of the first round, Paul, despite a hamstring injury, hit what could be the considered the biggest shot in Clippers' history, nailing a game-winner over Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs to get a victory in a tremendously tight series. But after the Clippers went up 3-1 in Round 2, seemingly headed for a showdown with the rival Golden State Warriors, the team lost threestraight games to the Rockets, including another monumental collapse, this time blowing a 19-point second-half lead in Game 6.
Paul's playoffs again were cut short the next season, with a broken hand knocking him out of a firstround series with the Portland Trail Blazers.
And while he was healthy against the Utah Jazz during the most recent playoffs, the Clippers again were hit hard by injuries, losing in seven games.