Chris Paul says the Clippers are sending him home from their road trip in a shocking late-night move
Chris Paul says the Los Angeles Clippers are sending him home from their road trip putting a shocking twist on what is expected to be the veteran point guard s final NBA season Just Detected Out I m Being Sent Home Paul posted on social media at around a m Wednesday morning adding a peace emoji The struggling Clippers are in Atlanta for a road event against the Hawks on Wednesday night Los Angeles lost at Miami on Monday night to fall to - in a wildly disappointing start to the season The -year-old Paul is playing his st NBA season and he strongly hinted last month that it will be his last The -time All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist has earned four All-NBA first club selections and he ranks second in NBA history with assists He was the first performer to outcome at least points while recording at least assists He became arguably the the greater part accomplished player in Clippers franchise history while leading the band to six winning seasons from - including the Clippers first two Pacific Division titles and three playoff series victories Paul returned to Los Angeles as a free agent last July rejoining a franchise where he is loved by fans while having an outside chance to contend for his first championship alongside Kawhi Leonard and James Harden Lawrence Frank the Clippers top basketball executive issued a announcement confirming Paul s departure to several media outlets early Wednesday He indicated the Clippers will attempt to exchange Paul who signed a million deal to return to LA We are parting tactics with Chris and he will no longer be a part of the association Frank announced We will work with him on the next step of his career Chris is a legendary Clipper who has had a historic career I want to make one thing very clear No one is blaming Chris for our underperformance I accept responsibility for the record we have right now There are a lot of reasons why we ve struggled We re grateful for the impact Chris has made on the franchise Paul hasn t spoken to reporters since he strongly hinted at retirement while the Clippers were back in his native North Carolina But he acknowledged a video retrospective of his career played by the Clippers during a timeout at Intuit Dome last week The video ended with Congratulations Point God on the screen Paul couldn t really be blamed for the Clippers profound struggles this season because he hasn t played much He is averaging points and assists while playing just minutes per competition all career lows and he didn t play at all in five straight games in mid-November Paul had eight points and three assists while playing minutes against the Heat in what turned out to be his final battle with the club a event in which Harden and other starters were effectively benched in the latest sign of discord for coach Tyronn Lue s band The Clippers are on a five-game skid and they re tied with Sacramento for the second-worst record in the Western Conference heading into Wednesday s games Leonard has been limited to games by injuries and they ve already lost guard Bradley Beal to season-ending hip surgery The Clippers streak of consecutive winning seasons is the longest advancing streak in the NBA but owner Steve Ballmer s club has yet to show signs of contention this season and now they re going forward without a historically talented point guard and franchise favorite AP NBA https apnews com NBA Source
