Chris Paul finally made the NBA Finals last season for the first time in his career. His NBA Finals appearance came as a surprise to many for a few reasons. One, he was playing for a team that didn’t even qualify for the playoffs last season. Two, it was his first season with the Phoenix Suns.
In an interview on “No Chill with Gilbert Arenas,” Paul talked about why he chose to play for the Suns. He said the opportunity to play for Monty Williams, who was a coach on the Hornets staff when he played for them, was appealing. So was playing with Devin Booker.
But Paul admitted to Arenas that the road to winning in Phoenix wasn’t so easy. The veteran point guard says he clashed with young center Deandre Ayton at first.
“And then the part is building. It ain’t always pretty. Me and Deandre Ayton was getting into it like he– to start the season,” Paul said (censored by LBS). “Because I’m hard on you. And I ain’t no loser.”
Eventually the Suns really started to pull things together consistently. They took the No. 2 spot in the West, knocked out the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs, the Clippers in the conference finals, and then reached the NBA Finals. They lost to the Bucks for the championship, but their run to the Finals was still stunning to many. Paul seems to have successfully turned around Ayton’s mentality, which was great by the Finals.
