There have been rumors that the Clippers might break up their core if they don’t make a long playoff run, but that apparently won’t apply to Chris Paul, writes Mitch Lawrence of Forbes. Paul is in line for a five-year extension this summer worth more than $200MM, and an unidentified source tells Lawrence, “It’s all done, with a wink and a nod.”
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard a report along these lines. Back in February, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders wrote that Paul and the Clippers had a “verbal agreement” in place for a new long-term contract. As we noted at the time, a verbal agreement isn’t binding, so even if such an arrangement is in place, the Clippers and CP3 are free to change course in the coming months. Paul won’t be able to officially sign a new five-year deal until July 6.
Paul, 31, is expected to turn down a player option for next season worth $24.27MM and seek a long-term contract that could be his last in the NBA. The nine-time All-Star led the Clippers to the No. 4 spot in the West with another stellar season, averaging 18.1 points and 9.2 assists over 61 games. Paul has been with the Clippers for the past six seasons.
L.A. is facing an offseason in which Paul and Blake Griffin are each expected to opt out, joining fellow starter J.J. Redick on the free agent market. There have been concerns about whether the Clippers can afford to bring all of them back, particularly if the season ends with another playoff disappointment.
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
I hope he re-signs and we rebuild around him or Blake
Rebuild round an old PG? lol ya’ll funny as a chicken hangin’ Sheetrock I reckon
Team needs new blood.
Maybe sign and trade Blake and get some talented players back in return
What team and what players?
$200 million is seriously overpaid… I’m seeing a spike in ticket-pricing as a strategy to justify it…
Clippers don’t pay this man 200mil or anything even close to that smh this team just can’t win
Hes not worth 200 million
I think that the Mike Conley signing last summer blew up the market. The clippers are gonna over pay for an old pg. He doesn’t seem to fit with the other guys on the team, or maybe it is just all of them.
The Thunder could have interest in Griffin in a sign-and-trade. They could use another star to go with Westbrook & Griffin is from Oklahoma City.
and who would they give the clippers? not happening
…says the salty Laker fan.
(json-api)
That’s going to turn into an albatross incredibly quick. He’s probably not worth the AAV now, let alone at the back end.
The Clippers haven’t built a serious title contender around CP3 and Griffin, and realistically either they need young transcendent talent to knock off GS or incredible luck. I think with the most optimistic view you could bring back the same core and in a couple of years we’ll be talking about them in similar conversation with the Jazz who had great teams but could never get past the leagues best teams consistently enough to win a title. A realistic view would probably see them stuck in the four seed until Paul retires and then starting over.
No fan or owner wants to admit it but the window for LAC is closing hard.
Clippers only shot was 2015 when they blew a chance to reach the conference finals. The team is arguably exactly the same since then while the Warriors and Rockets have improved. I’d say trade Blake for Melo and see what that gives you because doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity
Chris Paul is the best basketball the player the clipper have ever had. It would be a mistake to let him go. The problem is Jordan has hands like bricks and can’t make a two footer and griffin can’t hang onto the ball when he’s in the lane. They will never win with those two on the court. I would like to see both of them gone. They also Made the mistake of letting Collison go and got River to handle the second team. I would like to see Balmer get rid of all three of these guys and get Collison back sign a center like cousins or any other center who can make a two footer. Balmer with his boatload of money and could go out and buy some of those free agents out there.
Agree
Rivers is the most overrated coach in pro sports. Paul,Griffin,Jordan and Reddick are all turds.