This season, Chris Paul’s 21st in the NBA, will be the final chapter of the future Hall of Fame point guard’s illustrious career, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
In the summer, Paul, 40, signed what was reported as a one-year, $3.6 million deal to reunite with the Los Angeles Clippers, with whom he had previously starred from 2011-17. After inking the contract, he called the decision to return to the Clippers a “no-brainer,” but he said he didn’t know if the 2025-26 campaign would be his last in the league.
Advertisement
“I think throughout this season, at some point — guys that I know who’ve retired, and all this different type of stuff — you know, and you sort of figure it out yourself,” Paul told ESPN’s Malika Andrews in late July. “It tells you. But I think more than anything, this season, I will definitely enjoy it. I don’t take this for granted.”
Paul has reportedly come to his conclusion a month into the season. Following an efficient 2024-25 with the San Antonio Spurs — during which he started all 82 games — he’s averaging just 2.5 points and 3.3 assists in 13.7 minutes per game for a 4-11 Clippers team.
Advertisement
“What a ride…Still so much left…GRATEFUL for this last one!!” Paul wrote on Instagram Saturday below a video filled with highlights and set to a remix of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.”
Paul made the post ahead of the Clippers’ road game versus the Charlotte Hornets in his home state of North Carolina.
Paul has played for seven franchises 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.
Advertisement
He started his career with the New Orleans Hornets. They selected him No. 4 overall out of Wake Forest 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), Spurs (2024-25) and now the Clippers again.
Paul has averaged 16.9 points, 9.2 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 2 steals per game in his career. While those numbers have dipped over the years, his continued impact as a floor general has allowed him to play into his 40s as he cements his legacy as one of the league’s top point guards of all time.
