Clipper’s Chris Paul headed to Rockets
In an NBA off season that has already seen Jimmy Butler move from the Bulls to the Timberwolves during the draft, the fireworks continue with Chris Paul moving from Los Angeles Clippers to the Houston Rockets. The mega deal puts Chris Paul in the same back court as James Harden, who Paul had expressed interest in playing with. The question is, how does this move impact the Paul George dominoes?
Chris Paul is heading to Houston to join James Harden, and the Rockets will have two All-Stars in the backcourt to lead their chase for a championship after a blockbuster trade with the LA Clippers on Wednesday.
“Since winning back-to-back championships, the pursuit of a third title has remained the ultimate goal for our franchise,” Rockets owner Leslie Alexander said in a statement. “We feel that combining two of the league’s greatest players in James Harden and Chris Paul, operating in Coach [Mike] D’Antoni’s system, gives us a championship caliber team that will compete at the highest level for years to come.”
The Rockets will send Sam Dekker, Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, DeAndre Liggins, Darrun Hilliard, Montrezl Harrell, Kyle Wiltjer, a top-three protected 2018 first-round pick and $661,000 to the Clippers in exchange for Paul, who said on Twitter that he was going through an “unbelieveable amount of emotions right now.”
Houston now will try to acquire All-Star Paul George from the Indiana Pacers, sources told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne.
Paul had been planning to decline the player option on his contract with the Clippers and wanted to play with Harden, according to The Vertical.
In addition, sources told ESPN’s Michael Eaves that the relationship between Paul and Doc Rivers, the coach and president of basketball operations, had deteriorated rapidly since the Clippers acquired Austin Rivers — Doc’s son — during the 2015-16 season.
Paul met with the Clippers on Tuesday and didn’t like what he heard from the team, sources told ESPN. He informed them Tuesday night that he planned to leave in free agency if he declined his option.
The Clippers were determined to get something for Paul rather than lose him for nothing, sources told ESPN, so Paul instead agreed to opt in for the final year of his contract (worth $24.2 million) to facilitate the trade.
Steve
Steve is an affordable multifamily housing professional that is also the co-founder of Whiskey Congress. Steve has written for national publications such as The National Marijuana News and other outlets as a guest blogger on topics covering sports, politics, and cannabis. Steve loves whiskey, cigars, and uses powerlifting as an outlet to deal with the fact that no one listens to his brilliant ideas.
