Los Angeles Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue refuted reports that he and 12-time All-Star point guard Chris Paul weren’t on speaking terms for several weeks leading up to Paul’s dismissal from the team on Dec. 3, and that Lue refused to meet with Paul.
“We were talking,” Lue said Tuesday.
“I mean, he played. How he going to play if I’m not talking to him? There was a stretch when we said he wasn’t going to play, he was going to be out of the rotation. It was tough for him because he’s a competitor and what the game means to him and what he brings every single day. But after that, it wasn’t really much.”
Paul is 40 years old and in his 21st season in the NBA. The 2025-26 campaign is expected to be his final go-around in the league. He didn’t play because of a coach’s decision five times last month but was playing as recently as Dec. 1. In 16 games with the Clippers, he was averaging a career-low 2.9 points and 3.3 assists in 14.3 minutes per game.
The Clippers, who are now 6-18, sent him home while they were in Atlanta during a road trip at the beginning of December. Paul broke the news on Instagram. Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank then confirmed in a statement that Paul is no longer with the team, noting that Paul isn’t to blame for the team’s “underperformance” and that he is “a legendary Clipper.”
Tyronn Lue also coached Chris Paul earlier in his career while as an assistant for the “Lob City” Clippers from 2013-14. (Photo by John W. McDonough /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
(John W. McDonough via Getty Images)
Hours later last Wednesday, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Paul’s leadership style, specifically a willingness to hold management, coaches and players accountable, “clashed” with the Clippers, and that Paul had not spoken to Lue “for several weeks.”
When Frank met with reporters later that day, he said he had a three-hour meeting with Paul before his dismissal while also saying Paul “has a very good leadership style” but that some roster moves just don’t work, per Clippers reporter Justin Russo.
“This one just didn’t work at this time,” Frank said this past Wednesday, according to Russo.
Lue said Tuesday that he wasn’t part of the final conversation as Paul was on his way out.
“I wasn’t there,” he said.
A reporter asked why Paul’s situation was irreconcilable, referencing other times the Clippers have sent players home before bringing them back.
“You got to ask Lawrence,” Lue said.
Lue said he had no problem with Paul, whom he also coached earlier in his career while as an assistant for the “Lob City” Clippers from 2013-14, pointing out “that’s my guy” while referring to him as a friend and referencing a 40-minute phone conversation he had with Paul.
“You don’t want to see that happen to anybody no matter what the circumstances are.”
Clippers players, notably stars Kawhi Leonard and James Harden, were shocked by Paul’s dismissal. Lue acknowledged Tuesday that his team isn’t happy about it.
“It’s their teammate. It’s a guy they go to war with every single day, and he was part of us,” Lue said. “So it’s tough. The organization just made the decision to do it, but we got to move on. We got to try to win some games.”
Lue said he considers Paul a Hall of Famer and one of the top five or six point guards to ever play the game. He’s confident the Wake Forest product’s legacy will still endure.
Paul has played for seven franchises and, and even though an NBA championship has escaped his résumé, he’s collected a laundry list of accomplishments, including 11 All-NBA selections and nine NBA All-Defensive Team nods. Additionally, Paul has led the league in assists five times and steals six times.
He started his career with the New Orleans Hornets. They selected him No. 4 overall in the 2005 draft. He won NBA Rookie of the Year in 2006, jumpstarting his six-season run with the Hornets that went through the 2010-11 season.
Since, he’s suited up for the Los Angeles Clippers (2011-17), Houston Rockets (2017-19), Oklahoma City Thunder (2019-20), Phoenix Suns (2020-23), Golden State Warriors (2023-24), San Antonio Spurs (2024-25) and now the Clippers again.
In an interview with People magazine released Tuesday, Paul said that he’s “at peace with everything.”
“I’m home. My daughter had tryouts yesterday. My nephew had a basketball game. My son has a game coming up on the 12th,” Paul said, via People.
He also noted: “More than anything, I’m excited about being around and getting a chance to play a small role in whatever anything looks like next.”
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