Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Prince J. Grimes.
Chris Paul’s fit on the San Antonio Spurs was obvious the first time it was ever mentioned the team might be interested in acquiring his services this offseason. What wasn’t always obvious was how the Spurs fit Paul’s own personal timeline.
At 39 years old, the only thing missing from Paul’s 19-year career is an NBA championship. So, most people assumed being able to compete for a title would be high on his list of priorities when choosing his next team.
As we found out when he signed with the Spurs last month, it wasn’t the most important factor.
Maybe it was his experience with the Golden State Warriors last season — coming off the bench for the first time in his career — or maybe it was injuries limiting him to just 58 games, but Paul said during his introductory press conference news Tuesday, he just wanted an opportunity to play.
In this era of ring-chasing, it was refreshing to hear.
Chris Paul said playing time was more important to him than chasing a ring when he chose to join the Spurs.
More: https://t.co/IPDSlxDSrF pic.twitter.com/qXMO1WTKct
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) July 9, 2024
“I love nothing more than the opportunity to play and contribute and hoop,” Paul said.
Surely, he could have take a minimum deal elsewhere — like the Los Angeles Lakers, who reportedly had interest — to join a team people might consider a more serious contender than the young Spurs. And there would have been absolutely nothing wrong with that. That’s what we ask of our athletes. To actually care about the same things us fans do, which is winning.
But Paul doesn’t want to win if it means riding the bench or doing the bare minimum. He’d rather be a significant contributor on a team with a promising future that may not be quite there yet (the Spurs are +15000 to win a championship at BetMGM). He’d rather help speed the progress of the potential next face of the NBA, Victor Wembanyama. He’d rather spend his time playing for another legend of the game, coach Gregg Popovich.
And I, for one, can’t wait to see what that trio does together.
“I come to hoop. I’m not a coach.”
Chris Paul on his role with the Spurs after coming off the bench in 40 of 58 games last season for the Warriors while averaging a career-low 26.4 minutes a night. pic.twitter.com/6ShQLvOOE0
— Casey Viera (@Casey_Viera) July 9, 2024
Just because the Spurs might not be ready to compete for a championship doesn’t mean they can’t be better than anyone is expecting and push for the playoffs. Paul gives them a chance to do that if he has anything left in the tank. We saw him do it with the young Oklahoma City Thunder in 2019-20 and with the Phoenix Suns the following year.
For Paul, helping a young team overachieve seems to be more rewarding at this point in his career than doing the bare minimum on a team already stacked.
Kawhi Leonard out. Derrick White in.
Kawhi Leonard withdrew from Team USA for the Paris Olympics, it was announced Wednesday, and though the news was hardly surprising, it’s not exactly what anyone wanted to hear.
The concept of the country’s best players coming together to take on the world is always fun — even if many of them are past their primes now — and that doesn’t exist without Leonard. When healthy, he’s easily one of the best players in the world.
Regardless, health has always been a part of his story, and as a result he’ll be replaced on the team by Derrick White of the NBA champion Boston Celtics. And if that sounds like a significant downgrade, it is. But then again, anyone would be.
That doesn’t make White any less the right pick for this team. And FTW’s Bryan Kalbrosky has three reasons why: White has prior experience with Team USA, he was already in the player pool of potential options for this team and he has the right style of game to fit alongside his more accomplished teammates.
“Per dunksandthrees, the Boston guard finished 92nd percentile in Offensive Estimated Plus-Minues (oEPM) and 91st percentile in Defensive Estimated Plus-Minus (dEPM) last season.
It was the fourth season in a row he ranked in the 90th percentile or better in overall EPM. Yet he has accomplished all this while maintaining a low usage rate, which suggests he is able play well within his role next to ball-dominant teammates.
White doesn’t need the ball in his hands to make an impact and he can play in various different lineup styles. He also feels unlikely to complain if he has a smaller role or has minimal playing time, which may not be as true for some of the other players above.”
BK makes a solid argument for why White makes sense on this team.
Related: Jaylen Brown seems salty Derrick White was chosen over him
Shootaround
— Jayson Tatum, A’ja Wilson and Vince Carter are your NBA 2K25 cover athletes
— Steph Curry mic’d up during Team USA practice was good stuff
