The NBA trade deadline is this week, slated for Thursday at 3 p.m. ET. The possibility of a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade looms large as the biggest possible transaction, but in a championship landscape devoid of heavy favorites there’s still plenty of potential for interesting moves of all sizes across the league.
It could also spell the end of Chris Paul’s tenure with the Clippers. At least, that’s what the basketball world assumed a few months ago.
Paul was sent home from a Los Angeles road trip in December and has been away from the team ever since. At the time the Clippers were one of the worst teams in the NBA and have since dramatically turned around their season, which lends credence to the idea the move was necessary. Regardless of that aspect the widely-held expectation would be that the franchise would try to trade Paul or release him outright given the unpleasant nature of the divorce between the two parties.
So far that obviously has not happened. On Monday ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne gave an update on the situation in light of the upcoming deadline and reported there has been no “substantial movement” on finding the future Hall of Famer a new team.
“It’s been nearly two months since the L.A. Clippers announced they’d parted ways with future Hall of Fame point guard Chris Paul, but if you step into the team’s home locker room, his locker is still saved and lit up like he’s a part of the team,” Shelburne wrote. “That’s because technically he is, and there has been no substantial movement toward finding him a new home, sources close to the situation said.
“Paul has been training and will be ready to perform if he’s included in a trade before Thursday’s deadline. The Clippers are still amenable to helping him find a new home to play his final season.”
It’s a tricky situation. Paul’s resume is impeachable as one of the great point guards in NBA history but he is no longer capable of producing at a high level; he averaged only 2.9 points and 3.3 assists in 16 appearances for the Clippers before the split. His only value at this stage comes as a end-of-bench veteran presence. But that apparently went so poorly in Los Angeles the organization felt motivated to basically banish him from the team and accept the accompanying PR hit. At the time it seemed supremely unlikely an opposing team would offer up assets for a player in that situation and that is holding true thus far.
The Clippers releasing Paul now feels like the endgame. Unlike earlier in the season they can replace him by signing a free agent should they waive him outright. But there is clearly still a hope some team will swoop in and offer up something that will save Los Angeles from the situation the franchise created.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as NBA Insider Gives Update on Chris Paul’s Status With Clippers As Trade Deadline Nears.
