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Pull out your Los Angeles Clippers bingo cards. Anyone have the square marked “owner and star player accused of skirting the salary cap through improper means”? Go ahead and stamp that one. How about “losing 14 of 16 after a hopeful 3-2 start”? Mark it. And yes, you can fill in “other star averaging nearly 27 a night at age 36 – including a 50-piece against the Detroit Pistons, one of the league’s best teams”. The box reading “Clippers fans tearing out their hair at alarming rates and contemplating shameful, fairweather defections” is probably safe to cross off, pending review. And after the wee-hours media cycle on Wednesday morning, everyone gets to tick the most dispiriting square of all: “beloved, decorated veteran unceremoniously kicked to the curb in his final season”.
Related: Chris Paul ‘sent home’ by reeling LA Clippers in stunning late-night move
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The Clippers had posted a winning record every year since 2010-11, building a reputation as one of the NBA’s most reliable playoff fixtures. Twenty-one games into this young season, that identity has dissolved into something hazy around the edges – and unmistakably sinister.
The decorated vet in question is 40-year-old Chris Paul, who posted via an Instagram story that the Clippers were sending him home from their ongoing road trip. Lawrence Frank, the Clippers’ president of basketball operations, confirmed the news in a statement to ESPN: “We are parting ways with Chris, and he will no longer be a part of the team.” Frank added of Paul, amidst bland platitudes of his status as a Clippers icon, “I want to make one thing very clear. No one is blaming Chris for our underperformance.” Clearly.
Paul joined the Clippers in 2011 and helped launch their long run of winning seasons before departing in 2017. (His eventual trade to Houston brought back seven players, a protected 2018 first-round pick and the better part of a million dollars.) In LA he averaged 18.8 points and 9.8 assists, made three All-NBA first teams and turned the franchise into Lob City with those feathered lobs to Blake Griffin and DeAndre…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/clippers-chaotic-unravelling-leaves-chris-222024590.html
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Publish date : 2025-12-03 22:20:00
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