At 38, Chris Paul’s still got it
SAN FRANCISCO — An awkward pause lingered for a moment in the Bill King interview room.
“Clearly you were a marquee player back in your time,” a reporter said as part of a question.
You don’t get to Paul’s position as a 38-year-old future Hall of Fame point guard without a healthy amount of confidence and pride. Back in my time?
Chuckles scattered in the room, including from the podium. In Paul’s mind, he’s not over the hill. He might be past his athletic prime, but he’s not a has-been.
He has every reason to believe that. Paul had just polished off a 14-assist, zero-turnover masterclass in a win Wednesday night over the Grizzlies. He picked apart Memphis’ drop pick-and-roll coverage with his patented array of midrange fallaways. He found Jonathan Kuminga and Trayce Jackson-Davis — his new favorite lob partner — for alley-oop dunks. Back in my time? His time’s clearly not up.
“I’ve played in a few games,” Paul joked when asked about his vintage performance.
Paul might be an old dog, but he doesn’t seem to need new tricks. He has seamlessly blended his pick-and-roll playmaking into Golden State’s free-flowing offensive ecosystem.
This year, he’s averaging 9.4 points and 7.1 assists in 26.7 minutes per game. Among regular players, he ranks second in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio.
“I watch this game all day every day. I’m on Second Spectrum, I’m watching clips. I know this game like the back of my hand,” Paul said. “So when you’re playing out there and you’re knowing Klay (Thompson)’s got it going, he’s shooting the life out of the ball, the slip might be open. You know all these different things.”
Paul’s been playing basketball for 34 years. He credited some of his coaches, including the coach who ran the Utah Jazz-style flex offense on his 11-year-old team, for helping build his encyclopedic knowledge of the game.
In the NBA, he has played in 1,257 regular season games and 147 more in the postseason. He has won two Olympic gold medals and been teammates with James Harden, Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
“There isn’t really much you can show me that I haven’t seen,” Paul said.
And now, his longtime point guard rival Steph Curry.
Paul has been around so long, he coached Grizzlies rookie GG Jackson II a couple years ago in his AAU program. Jackson dropped a career-high 35 points Wednesday against Paul and the Warriors, and the point guard couldn’t have been happier.
“Sometimes he still calls me coach,” Paul said. “He hit a 3 in my face early in the game, I was pissed. But our AAU program is really like a family. And so to see him be out there on the court and playing against him, it’s something I’ll never get used to. Kind of a surreal moment.”
Jackson is 19 years Paul’s junior. Paul didn’t just share the court with Jackson, he competed with him. Paul posted his fifth double-double of the season and 15th career game with at least 14 assists and zero turnovers.
In one stretch early in the fourth quarter, Paul stuck a stare-down 3. A couple trips later, he hit Jackson-Davis with a pocket pass in the pick-and-roll for his 10th assist. Then he found the rookie center again for an and-1 alley-oop.
Paul kept finding the open man, like he has done for so long. He dished to Andrew Wiggins for a 3, and then threw a 30-foot lob to Kuminga on a back cut for the highlight slam of the night.
Dray's reaction to this CP-to-JK lob pic.twitter.com/N2QiXWD6xA
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) March 21, 2024
Only someone with Paul’s court vision and gumption would have even let that pass fly, let alone put it on a string. He picked the ball up near halfcourt and still had the patience and anticipation to deliver the dime.
“Chris is one of the elite playmakers that this league has ever seen,” Draymond Green said. “One of the best passers we’ve ever seen in this league.”
Paul ranks third on the NBA’s all-time assist leaderboard and is on track to pass Jason Kidd for second.
“I mean, there’s no better player to pass it,” Kidd said in Dallas last week. “He’s had an incredible Hall of Fame career… When you talk about the point guard position, he’s the blueprint of success.”
The Warriors acquired Paul in the Jordan Poole trade, an acquisition that has kept them in the Western Conference playoff picture. Poole has the seventh-worst plus-minus among regular players in the league. Paul is a member of three of Golden State’s five most productive lineups and has raised the floor of their second unit.
Especially since returning from his fractured hand, Paul has provided a boost to Golden State’s second unit as Klay Thompson’s backcourt partner. In 12 games since the All-Star break, Paul is shooting 45.2% from 3 and 48.6% overall — both significant improvements from earlier in the season when he may have been feeling things out on his new team.
Paul has only been a Warrior for 44 games, but he already holds the franchise record for games with at least 10 assists and no turnovers (four). He remains the poster point guard for running a professional halfcourt offense, for valuing possessions.
“There’s a reason they call him the Point God,” Steve Kerr said.
Kerr actually didn’t field a question about Paul in his press conference. So he made a point to stick around at the podium to highlight his backup point guard.
“By the way, Chris Paul is really good,” Kerr said. “That was a clinic tonight. Please ask about Chris Paul.”
Since Paul debuted in 2005, Kerr has been a minority owner of the Suns, a broadcaster, a general manager and a four-time champion coach. Paul has been putting on clinics the entire time.