Chris Paul can become a free agent if he declines his $44.2MM option but ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski doesn’t see him leaving the Suns (hat tip to RealGM). “It certainly seems to me it’s hard to see him go somewhere else,” Wojnarowski said on ESPN’s The Jump. “He wanted to be there. He had to convince Phoenix a little bit that they were ready for him.” However, Woj said Paul could use the Knicks as a “leverage point.”
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- Suns owner Robert Sarver is committed to keeping his core group intact and is willing to go into the luxury tax to make that happen, Kellan Olson of ArizonaSports.com relays. “From a financial standpoint I am,” he said. “In terms of the timing of contracts and who and this and that, that’s something that (GM) James (Jones) and his crew will be working on I’m sure during the summer,” he said. “But in terms of from ownership, yeah, we’re committed for sure.”
- Clippers coach Ty Lue rested many of his regulars down the stretch and the team wound up with the No. 4 seed in the West. He has no regrets, Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN tweets. “I don’t give a damn what anybody else thinks… we finally got everyone healthy… I don’t care,” he said. “I don’t read Twitter. I don’t have Twitter… I am my own man and I do what I want to do.”
- Warriors coach Steve Kerr appreciates the way his team persevered through injuries and finished strong, according to Nick Friedell of ESPN. “When you go five straight years of ‘win the championship or bust,’ it’s incredibly stressful,” Kerr said. “It’s exciting and you wouldn’t want it any other way, but it adds up. And so I think this year has been refreshing in a lot of ways. It’s been a really meaningful season for our franchise in a lot of ways and that’s important.”
I wonder what type of contract the Suns would give a 36-year old Chris Paul if he opts out. It would probably average less than the $40M/year he’s making now.
Yes but it would be longer. I don’t see that he might feel old though… he still has that posture that reminds me of a bossy little kid.
Also: Is Phoenix a playoff team without Chris Paul?
He’s aged like fine wine to date, but 6 foot guys normally don’t make it much past 30 in the league and he’s now officially closer to 40 than he is 30.
I would be a little concerned giving him a LT deal not knowing if this team is actually still good if he starts to decline like a normal human being. I might prefer him to just pick up the option even tho it’s an exorbitant number.
Maybe like 3/90M. Less money annually but longer deal.
Why would he opt out lol ???? You miss him now, don’t you.
Who’s gonna be the Wizards’ head coach next month?
I’m laughing at the 64% of voters here who picked the Wizards to win.
Westbrook doesn’t look like MVP
Westbrook and Wally shoot 31.7% from the three
Who has Tiebreaker?
I feel bad but Westy feels worse. And Bertans may have the worst contract in the league. Sux. 33′, 4 points on 15 shots, 1 reb. Him & Westy, 0-11 on 3s, 7-36 on FGs… well Beal wasn’t that good either. They were winning but had no legs. Why did Bertans play so long?— his great defense on Tatum?— ha. Nobody to rally around in the second half i guess.
Just my ideas
I’d assign Bertans to G League, he needs to learn everything
I’d treat John Wall like Udonis Haslem
Wall doesn’t need to play, just provides leadership in the bench
It looked like something was wrong with RWB last nt.
My theory on Russ is this: given his age/dependence on athleticism, he needs to be 105% physically healthy. If he is he can and will still dominate. But if he’s even 90% he play drops 40% bc he has no shot to speak of, and even losing a quarter step severely limits him at the rim.
And of course he plays thru everything.
This is the only way I can make sense of his radically different performances during different parts of the last two years. He looked like he was about to be playing in China in January and by April he was legitimately putting up top 10 numbers.
season free throw averages. bos 21 per night, today 32. +11. wash 26 per night, today 20. -6. bos +17 free throw advantage. score 118-100. +18.
Your name was Westbrook. All the Rockets watched him play with you. Get straight lol
ESPN guys said the Clippers are soft By intending to lose final two games
Fear the Lakers？
Given how fragile that team is, I think it made sense to rest players for the final couple of games to preserve the squad for the postseason. There really is no benefit for the #2 seed given the similarity in competition, so I don’t see the point in trying
Spoken like a clipper fan
Well I’m a Memphis fan, so try again. If you don’t agree with my take, that’s fine. It doesn’t mean I’m some biased homer
The Clippers will be playing the Lakers in the second round if the Lakers lose to the Warriors tonight.
Russ was westbrick tonight together with bertans who also needs to attend a camp for his defense . It’s also the coaching… brooks was not able to find the answer coz we dont have enough personnel to answer the need tonight. Well. They still have another chance to make it to the playoffs… go wiz!! Hope u beat the pacers.
Having Russ and Beal playing Tatum in the 2nd half also just made no sense. Throw Rui who at least has size to contest the shot at him and 100% run doubles at him *every* possession. Celtics were playing three guys who can’t do squat on offense the entire second half and Brooks was using single coverage on Tatum.
I cannot fathom how anyone can think Westbrook is even an elite player, if anything he’s shown that triple doubles are meaningless, especially if you lose while getting one. He’s filed under “decent, but flawed”. He should get zero MVP votes this season.
“I can either make $121,095 dollars per day for a year or not…”
The Clippers are now so easy to root against with their Prima Donna’s. Kawai “ I need days off” and Let’s Tank because we don’t have the nads to play an aging Lebron. Wow how disgusting this team has become. Tyrone Lie can say all he wants. Actions speak louder than words and they have proved it over and over the last 2 years.
Kerr once again sounding like he doesn’t really want to win games, or be an NBA head coach. Just quit bro, go do something else if this isn’t interesting for you.
These kinds of quotes Kerr has been dropping literally all season long from day one proves he is the least hungry person in the NBA, so why does he have a job over more hungry coaches???
CP3 will join LBJ after next season and come to LA with Melo to begin the chase for the ring. You can book it!!!
uhh ok sure? they wont beat GSW though lol
CP3 is not walking away from that option year. $44 million for one year is a lot of money for a old player. Lakers couldn’t offer cp3 more than a mid range contract.
Totally agree….Kerr is a huge huge turd….who the hell talks like this?
Big time frontrunner who can’t deal with not being the center of attention.
Maybe a coach who wants his team as loose as possible before a big game. A lot of coaches do that. Not sure what your objection is.
Westbrook is probably overpaid. But I take him to start at PG for me. He’s an all out guy. Thibs could help him here. He’s got our personality. We get him cheap, I do it. He can end his career here. At a reasonable price. He will get the respect he deserves in NY.
Curry needs to go for 50 tonight. Only chance they have to win. At least we can see how AD and Bron really look. They win they get the Suns. Ain’t beating Suns. No way Suns are losing in 1st rd.
Lol suns.