We'll all miss hating on Chris Paul when he's gone

USA Today

07-07-2025

I have a confession to make.
I hate Chris Paul.
Since his days with the then-New Orleans Hornets to those burn-way-too-bright-too-soon Phoenix Suns, I have always hated Chris Paul. I've been watching the NBA for roughly two decades, and I cannot think of another player in that time who has gotten on my nerves nearly as much as the iconic point guard.
No one else has the same knack for toeing the line between clean and dirty quite like him. No one else tries to work the referees and the mythical "system" in the same way. He's usually been the smallest guy on the court, but has somehow often remained the loudest and most impactful. No matter what you try, he's like the deepest splinter you can't seem to dig out of your finger. He's basically a professional wrestling villain, a heel who perversely delights in being a heel, and a particularly annoying one at that.
To hate Paul — in the sports sense, purely as an NBA player, not a human being — feels natural, you know?
Weirdly enough, this dynamic is exactly why I'll miss Paul when he finally hangs his sneakers up.
Over the weekend, the 12-time All-Star told Jemele Hill that this upcoming NBA season will probably be his last. Which, to be clear, isn't surprising at all. Paul has been a high-level basketball player for two decades. He just turned 40. He's got a family. While he's still an effective player (albeit in smaller doses), at a certain point, the juice of being an active NBA player who is constantly on the road and meticulously fine-tuning their body for elite athletic performance isn't worth the squeeze anymore.
Yes, for all that Paul has accomplished, the future Hall of Famer has never hoisted the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
In fact, with all due respect to Charles Barkley, unless he wins it all in year 21, Paul might be the greatest player to never capture an NBA championship. That's not a label anyone wants. For great players in particular, it's the toughest pill to swallow. It's an open wound that will never heal entirely. At best, it's something they compartmentalize and grow to accept as they get older.
But how much longer could Paul pursue that mission at the cost of missing out on his life outside of basketball? It wouldn't have made much sense to continue chugging along indefinitely. Not if it means turning a blind eye to so much else that doesn't involve dribbling an orange ball.
Paul deserves credit for seeing the forest for the trees before it's too late.
Even still, I'm already finding it hard to imagine the NBA without Paul.
Who else would try to cheat in a meaningless All-Star Weekend Skills Challenge? Who else would drag out an infamous, years-long feud with a referee in Scott Foster? Who else would take every opportunity to better their own chances of winning, which includes taking shots at opposing players when you think officials aren't looking? Everyone says they want to win. Few have lived up to that billing like Paul. He has done all of these things because he has wanted to win above all else.
Quite frankly, I don't see a problem.
Great NBA villains like Paul make the league go round. They give us someone to root against, to direct our frustration and angst toward. Try as we might, they are characters we can't help but give attention to. The color and inherent purpose they offer the NBA's ever-evolving story are irreplaceable. The clear-cut path is too boring otherwise.
If this upcoming NBA season really is Paul's last, I'm gonna cherish every last bit of his trademark antics.
Because I'll miss hating him when he's gone.
The dust finally settles on free agency
NBA free agency hasn't stopped. Technically, the market is, more or less, open until the 2026 playoffs.
But the first major and most consequential wave is over. Aside from the Kevin Durant of it all, this year's free agency didn't necessarily have as much on-paper juice as we thought. Still, it'd be hard to say that the league's landscape hasn't shifted like tectonic plates after the fact.
MORE NBA FREE AGENCY: All the biggest winners and losers
Here's where I think everyone now stands.
For my money, I think there are only three true NBA title contenders to really put a pin in:
Teams that I think are less surefire but will still monitor with a close eye:
Everyone else? I'll review your applications accordingly as they come across my desk.
I'm already so geeked about next season, dearest readers. I can't wait to be both so wrong and so right about the league's power structure at the same time.
Shootaround
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