This time last year, Chris Paul was gearing up for his return to the Los Angeles Clippers, which was supposed to be a heartwarming, full-circle kind of moment, but instead, the opposite happened. At the beginning of December, the team sent the point guard home while LA was in Atlanta to take on the Hawks, a couple of weeks after he announced the 2025-26 season would be his last.
Here we are this offseason, and at long last, Paul could join the Lakers organization, almost 15 years after former NBA commissioner David Stern vetoed the trade that would've sent CP3 to Los Angeles.
This time, though, Paul wouldn't be LA's starting guard but serving in some capacity within the organization's front office, as ESPN's Ramona Shelburne reported on Thursday, a day after Mark Walters agreed to sell his majority share to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner.
Meanwhile, in projecting what a new Lakers front office could eventually look like, multiple sources around the league suggested to ESPN that the recently retired Chris Paul could have a role.
Chris Paul has been linked to the Lakers
Shelburne discussed Paul's relationship with Iger, which began because the former Disney CEO became a Clippers season-ticket holder. She wrote that their relationship has since "strengthened," noting how Iger hosted an event for CP3's memoir at his house in 2023. And Paul visited Iger's office at Disney this past March before the 75-year-old officially retired.
Now that Paul, too, is retired, it would make sense for Iger to bring in his good friend as he steps into the NBA realm. After all, over the years, CP3 was regarded as the most likely player to be a coach one day when he stopped playing. If that's something he's interested in, after years of saying he wasn't, joining the Lakers organization would be a good start.
Although Paul is from North Carolina, he's based in Los Angeles, so he'd still be able to stay close to his family, something he values.
The Clippers did Chris Paul wrong
As if it's not weird enough that Iger, who was a Clippers fan until Wednesday, will be one of the new co-owners of the Lakers, he could take Paul with him, too.
Los Angeles did Paul dirty, and there's no way around that. The Clippers could've worked with him to try to find a solution before blindsiding him and waiving him. What they should've done, though, was keep him around for the entire season, letting him take part in a retirement tour, even though he wasn't in the rotation. He wasn't a reason for their struggles.
If things had ended a lot better than they did, maybe Paul would be open to one day joining the Clippers organization in some capacity. Now, it looks like, if anything, he could be in purple and gold — for real this time.
Add us as a preferred source on Google