Sworn enemies team up for an epic final stand. It’s a movie trope older than Adam Silver.
This year, it’s the NBA’s turn to write that same script, with Golden State going full Hollywood, and Silver’s ongoing basketball soap opera getting yet another superb subplot: Chris Paul joining his former nemeses Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and co for one final title quest, in what may well be the 38-year-old future Hall of Famer’s last chance at a championship.
It’s easy to forget now, but way back in 2014, Paul himself actually played a part in unintentionally jump-starting the Golden State dynasty … by beating them.
Then in just his third season in Los Angeles, the 6ft maestro led the Clippers past the then-upstart Warriors in a seven-game first-round epic – all set to the backdrop of the now-infamous Donald Sterling TMZ tape.
On 3 May, Paul’s 22 points and 14 assists paced the Clippers to a 126-121 Game 7 triumph over Golden State. Three days later, the Warriors fired head coach Mark Jackson – despite the massive Splash Brother strides made under his watch – and the rest is basketball history.
The franchise hired Steve Kerr that summer, who brought his Zen Hoops-meets-Popovichian philosophy to the Bay Area, and now – nine years and four titles later – Paul plays for Kerr, donning the blue-and-gold which he spent a solid decade with four different teams trying to conquer.
Apart from an elusive NBA title, Paul has hardly anything left to prove in the NBA, while owning one of the most fascinating resumes in recent league history.
He is a Top 75 all-time player. A surefire Hall of Famer. Arguably the best pure point guard, and perhaps pound-for-pound player, of all time in terms of sheer efficiency and production. And, of course, his mid-range jumper will likely live in the dreams (or nightmares) of NBA fans for eternity.
It’s a legacy that feels like some amalgam of Isiah Thomas, Jason Kidd and Gary Payton – the latter two of whom Paul would love to emulate, with their late-stage, career-topping titles for unfamiliar new teams.
But perhaps no player has as many painful memorable what if? moments as Paul. In the 2015 Western Conference semis, Paul’s Clippers’ blew a 3-1 series lead against Houston. In the 2018 Western Conference finals, Paul was playing for the Rockets but was injured in Game 5 with Houston 3-2 up in the series against the Warriors. He missed Games 6 and 7, resulting in another Golden State finals appearance. And last, but not least, in the 2021 NBA finals, Paul’s Phoenix Suns had a 2-0 lead over Milwaukee before the Bucks roared back to win the title.
The big what if? now is simple: what will it take for Paul to get over the championship line? And what is the outlook for the Warriors in 2023-24, given an absolutely reloaded Western Conference field, led by last season’s finalists in Nikola Jokić’s Denver Nuggets and LeBron James’ Lakers lurking ominously like Van Damme on the horizon, as well as the Suns’ Kevin Durant/Devin Booker-helmed and Bradley Beal-infused iteration (trading places with Paul himself) for perhaps the last true superteam?
In Golden State, at least, Paul has found the perfect match for his supervillain-level basketball IQ and intellect: an antagonist savant his equal in Draymond Green, as well as a coach and system that values continuity, fluidity and balance. And despite his oft-discussed ball-dominance, Paul has still proven himself both adept and adaptable over nearly two decades orchestrating diverse offenses, most recently in Phoenix’s 2021 run to the NBA finals, and Houston’s No 1 offense under Mike D’Antoni’s “small ball or bust” five-out scoring machine.
Better yet, Paul’s biggest strength – his near four-to-one career assist-to-turnover ratio, and precise and exacting leadership – plays to the Warriors’ recent achilles heel: occasionally loose passing, a semi-inert half-court offense without Curry on the floor, and offers Kerr’s side an injection of efficient scoring along with steady, smart playmaking.
Moreover, Paul replaces Poole in small ways, too, bringing grit, guile and defensive intensity in the margins, in place of his predecessor’s at times passive on- (and off-)ball defensive tendencies. Those often rendered playing Poole in extended, high-leverage stretches untenable, as seen in last season’s Western semi-final defeat to the Lakers.
Of course, Paul won’t be able to do much to absolve the Warriors’ biggest complimentary need once this year’s playoffs actually do roll around: size and length alongside Curry. (Say nothing of his unfortunate playoff injury history in recent years.)
After all, former Golden State GM and dynasty architect Bob Myers spoke openly about the Warriors appetite (and intention) to draft, sign, trade and surround Steph – and his game-bending center of offensive gravity – with length and highly-switchable defenders. (Exhibit A: Iguodala, Andre.)
In that light, new GM Mike Dunleavy Jr deserves a ton of credit – not just for turning Poole’s $100m albatross into Paul, but also for adding big potential rotation pieces in skilled modern “center” Dario Šarić and rim-running rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis (amazingly, yet another son of a former NBA star, center Dale Davis), while betting on the developmental process of Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody. The early returns look promising, and the present future is bigger and brighter as a result.
But it still all crescendos to the bigger question: will Paul be able to help enough defensively to stay on the floor – alongside Curry – when the bigger tests come 2024, where the hypothetical Jamal Murray/Jokić and Austin Reeves/LeBron two-man games will inevitably and relentlessly hunt a Paul/Curry defensive pairing, with fewer and fewer smaller reliable hiding spots for either on either roster? (Lest we forget the KD-Booker-Beal triumvirate.)
So it goes: will Paul start? Will he flourish? And maybe most importantly, will he at times crack the closing five, in place of Kevon Looney, or even Green, Thompson or Andrew Wiggins?
Only time will tell, of course. At worst, Paul’s presence offers premium regular season protection and insurance in the event of a prolonged Curry absence – and another consistent end-of-game closer who can create and orchestrate alone or alongside Steph in what looks to be a fun and fast-twitch two-man game of their own, all in theory helping keep each other fresh for 82 games, and beyond.
For today anyways, all those questions and more go begging – and for now, the Warriors are simply left to see how their new season, chemistry and role-reversed leading man plays out, all while heeding to the all-too-fitting words of the aforementioned (and underrated) Van Damme flick – and movie poster tagline – in the process:
Keep your friends close. And your enemies closer.
