Chris Paul has opened up about his unceremonious exit from the Los Angeles Clippers.
The 12-time All-Star was recently the special guest on a live episode of the “7PM in Brooklyn” podcast hosted by Carmelo Anthony and Kazeem Famuyide. The appearance came less than a week after Paul officially announced his retirement from the NBA.
During the episode, Paul got into the mixed signals he had received from Clippers president Lawrence Frank in the weeks leading up to the team sending him home.
“Earlier in the season, Lawrence Frank sent me an article about how great my leadership was — an article I had never seen. He texted it to me, saying, “Man, this is great leadership right here.”
When the hosts mentioned Paul probably getting his jersey retired by the Clippers down the line, Paul shared that Frank had told him the same thing, albeit with very odd timing.
“He said that to me before he sent me home,” Paul shared.
“CP, we are going to retire your jersey, but your services are no longer needed,” Melo joked.
Paul added that Frank had promised him a meeting with Clippers head coach Ty Lue, possibly to clear the air before his exit. When Paul asked about that meeting, Frank apologized and said he “couldn’t do that.”
Reports emerged earlier in the season that Paul and Lue were no longer on speaking terms. That’s typically not a sign of a healthy player-coach relationship.
The Clippers brought Paul in to serve as a mentor in a reserve role. But the two sides reportedly had a misunderstanding about what that meant, with the Clippers not being on board with Paul’s more confrontational methods.
