Tim MacMahonDec 10, 2025, 07:00 AM ET
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Joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009
Covers the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Mavericks
Seems often on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM
THE OPEN INVITATION rapidly changed into an expectation throughout Chris Paul‘s solely season on the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder roster.
On off nights when the Thunder had been residence, the group’s gamers had been all welcome at Paul’s place, the place the long run Corridor of Famer lived alone whereas his household stayed in Los Angeles that 2019-20 season. His chef would put together a wholesome and hearty dinner — vegan for Paul and different choices for his visitors — and the gamers would eat and watch that evening’s NBA motion.
These nights turned routine for just a few of the Thunder’s youngest gamers, together with promising second-year guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and uncooked, undrafted rookie Luguentz Dort, the one two gamers remaining on Oklahoma Metropolis’s roster from that season. They’d settle into the couches, viewing one recreation on the large display screen and one other on Paul’s iPad, and absorb the knowledge of considered one of this era’s smartest basketball minds.
“We’d just be chilling,” Gilgeous-Alexander informed ESPN not too long ago. “But how we used to watch the games, he was never, like, just watching them. He was always watching ’em to learn.”
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Paul additionally watched the video games to show. He would continuously interact his common visitors — a bunch that additionally included then-rookie ahead Darius Bazley — in basketball banter. They’d speak concerning the tendencies of gamers they had been watching. Paul would steadily concentrate on particular actions groups would run and talk about defensive ways the Thunder would possibly use in opposition to these schemes.
“It was nothing crazy, to tell you the truth,” Paul informed ESPN. “It was more so just camaraderie.”
Paul’s strategy — at all times instructing, at all times speaking, at all times difficult his teammates — hasn’t at all times been effectively obtained throughout his 21-year NBA profession. That’s a part of why his deliberate retirement tour has been placed on indefinite maintain, because the LA Clippers shockingly opted to ship the long run Corridor of Famer residence final week.
However it was embraced and appreciated in Oklahoma Metropolis, the place Paul helped plant some seeds which can be blossoming into a possible dynasty a number of years later.
Classes discovered from Paul have performed small roles in Gilgeous-Alexander ascending into an MVP and Dort creating into one of many league’s premier 3-and-D position gamers. Habits instilled by following Paul’s lead turned a part of the franchise’s cloth in the course of the Thunder’s journey from a rebuilding undertaking to a champion.
“Chris really was the first person to show me what it meant to be a professional,” Gilgeous-Alexander mentioned. “He was at all times doing further. It was extra so off the courtroom than on the courtroom. It was the stuff you don’t take into consideration as a child. As a child, you’re taught to only work tremendous laborious, however you’re probably not taught vitamin and taking good care of your physique, getting massages, getting therapy, these kind of issues he was at all times on prime of.
“He just always had a get-better mentality in every way, in every way of life.”
Chris Paul, proper, led second-year guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder to the postseason in his lone season with the franchise. OKC misplaced in seven video games to the Houston Rockets. Zach Beeker/NBAE through Getty Photographs
EVERY TIME DORT watches movie, Paul pops into his thoughts. That’s as a result of Dort nonetheless makes use of the iPad that Paul purchased for him throughout their season as teammates, when a purchase order that costly would have put a major dent within the paycheck Dort obtained whereas on a two-way contract.
“What I saw in Lu really quick was that he had the work ethic,” Paul mentioned.
Paul wished Dort to have the instruments he wanted to correctly examine the sport, so he purchased the iPad for him, because the 12-time All-Star has executed for lots of rookie teammates through the years. Paul made positive that Dort had entry to Second Spectrum, a subscription service utilized by NBA groups, and tutored him on the right way to filter clips through the use of particular searches by play classes or statistics. And Paul usually watched movie with Dort, stating nuances he ought to discover and advising him on the right way to take notes.
“Being CP3’s rook, honestly, it was amazing, especially in the position that I was in on a two-way,” Dort informed ESPN. “Clearly, Chris is Chris, and me popping out of school, I see Chris as an enormous celebrity. So at first we didn’t have that many conversations, however as I obtained extra with the group, we obtained nearer and I may see what kind of man Chris actually was. And he was an excellent dude, actually.
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“He taught me so much, an actual chief, actual vocal on the courtroom. “
Paul’s model of being a vocal chief sometimes isn’t nice. He has by no means hesitated to yell at a teammate who he believed had erred, and Dort was no exception.
One in every of Paul’s largest pet peeves was when Dort would cross up open seems to be. These had been statistically wise selections — Dort was a poor shooter at that time, making solely 29.7% of his 3-point makes an attempt that season. However Paul wished to instill confidence in Dort, who ultimately earned a normal contract along with his relentless protection as a rookie.
“I used to be on Lu all the time,” Paul mentioned. “I used to say, ‘Lu, you play defense so hard and you compete so hard that I don’t care if you miss [shots] on offense. I just want you to shoot it and give yourself a chance.’ When guys compete and play like that, then you live with the results.”
Paul fortunately poured into Dort, who ultimately progressed to capturing 41.2% from 3-point vary final season, as a result of he acknowledged the then-rookie’s burning want to get higher. Paul noticed the identical attribute in Gilgeous-Alexander, whom Paul calls a “basketball junkie,” which is the last word praise coming from him.
Gilgeous-Alexander distinctly remembers getting a telephone name from Paul shortly after waking up on an off day throughout an early-season journey.
“Let’s go lift,” Paul mentioned, extra of a requirement than a suggestion.
Gilgeous-Alexander expressed confusion in his reply, saying that he thought lifting weights was a summer season exercise to construct power. Paul gave an in depth rationalization concerning the significance of in-season lifting to assist keep wholesome, detailing how working sure muscle mass served as preventative upkeep. Similar to that, they turned frequent lifting companions.
“Those are things that when you’re teammates, that’s just normal,” Paul mentioned. “If I got something going on and they can help me, they help me. If they got something going on, that’s just a teammate, [sharing] the knowledge. With them being younger, I was just trying to show [them]. I think that’s the importance of vets.”
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PAUL RETURNED TO Oklahoma Metropolis along with his profession at a crossroads.
He had began his NBA profession there in the course of the 2005-06 season, when the Hornets briefly relocated to Oklahoma Metropolis within the wake of Hurricane Katrina. His electrifying play throughout a Rookie of the Yr season was an enormous issue within the metropolis falling in love with the NBA.
He returned 14 years later after the Houston Rockets had fallen out of affection with Paul. Paul got here again to Bricktown as a result of the Rockets determined to commerce him, attaching a bundle of first-round picks and swap rights to commerce him for Russell Westbrook, believing that Paul’s decline was effectively underway at age 34.
That gave Paul lots to show. The expectation was that Paul wouldn’t be on the Thunder for lengthy, because the franchise appeared destined for a full rebuild after receiving large hauls of draft capital in summer season trades of All-Stars Paul George and Westbrook, however he was hellbent on being aggressive throughout his transient tenure.
The Thunder exceeded expectations throughout that pandemic-interrupted season by ending with a 44-28 report and pushing the closely favored Rockets to seven video games in a bubble playoff sequence. Paul earned a second-team All-NBA choice, averaging 17.6 factors, 6.7 assists and 1.6 steals whereas setting a tenacious tone.
“The thing that I always think about is on the sleepy regular-season games in the middle of the season in a midweek road city that are like invisible games — he’s ready to play,” mentioned Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault, an assistant coach on that group. “Just the seriousness, the professionalism, and the level he gets himself to prepare to play an NBA game every single night is potent when you’re around him. And I think it has an impact on the team.”
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When the Thunder left the bubble in September 2020, Paul knew he’d be enjoying elsewhere the subsequent season, based mostly on the trustworthy conversations he’d had with Thunder common supervisor Sam Presti. Paul had greater than held up his finish of the cut price, restoring his commerce worth to the purpose that Oklahoma Metropolis obtained a first-round decide within the deal that despatched Paul to his most well-liked vacation spot of Phoenix, which he helped result in the Finals the next season.
Paul had additionally left a long-lasting impression on the gamers and employees members who would stay in Oklahoma Metropolis lengthy after his departure.
“Working with Chris was great because you got to see that mind working every day and his level of detail and preparation,” Presti mentioned throughout his preseason media availability in September. “I’m grateful because when we traded for him, it was a surprise to him, but he put two feet in here.”
The one obtrusive omission from the 40-year-old Paul’s résumé as an all-time nice is a championship ring, and it seems nearly sure that his profession will wrap up with out one. (No, a ring-chasing reunion with the Thunder isn’t a practical chance; Oklahoma Metropolis has no open roster spot and several other younger guards who’ve earned enjoying time.)
However Paul did take a major measure of delight in watching his former protégés win a championship final season.
“That right there — nothing better, nothing better,” mentioned Paul, a courtside spectator when Gilgeous-Alexander obtained the MVP trophy in the course of the convention finals and for a Finals recreation. “And they deserve it.”
