Suns star Chris Paul officially graduates from Winston-Salem State, gifts classmates $2,500 each

Nearly two decades after he first stepped foot onto a college campus, Chris Paul earned his degree on Friday.

The Phoenix Suns star officially graduated from Winston-Salem State University on Friday, picking up his bachelor’s degree in mass communications.

"I didn't want it to be about me," Paul told Andscape’s Marc J. Spears after the ceremony. "I was trying to make it as normal as possible. You know, all these students here have fought their butts off for a while to get their degree. And I wanted to make sure that in no way I was trying to show them up on their special day. They had a lot of family, loved ones that's here to support them and to see them. And I just wanted to be a graduate just like that."

Paul played at Wake Forest for two seasons from 2003-05, where he averaged 15 points and 6.3 assists in 63 games. He was then drafted No. 4 overall in 2005, and he’s been in the NBA ever since.

Paul returned to college in 2020 at Winston-Salem State to finish his degree, which he’s done mostly virtually. He dropped 15 points in the Suns’ win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday, and then took a private jet to North Carolina later that night to get to the ceremony in time.

He then hopped right back on the plane after, so he can be in Phoenix for their game against the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday.

Paul received a huge round of applause ahead of the ceremony, and gifted each of his fellow graduates from the HBCU $2,500.

"When I was about to walk across the stage, there were nerves, there was an excitement, there was a feeling of completion," Paul said, via Andscape. "But knowing my family was there ... I played many high school games in that annex. And it was so dope to look over and see my aunts and uncles, my grandparents, my parents who had been there that whole time. And then to see my wife, my kids, it just felt normal."