When the Los Angeles Clippers decided to send Chris Paul home last night, they weren’t just making a basketball decision — they were running away from one of the hardest truths a franchise has to face. The 40-year-old Hall of Fame point guard learned about his release through an Instagram post, which tells you something about how this was handled. But what’s really interesting here is what this move represents: a team that couldn’t confront its own failures head-on, so instead, it lashed out at a convenient target.
Let’s be clear about something: the Clippers didn’t have to release Chris Paul. Paul wouldn’t have become trade-eligible until December 15th, which is nearly two weeks away. But here’s where it gets interesting. Instead of waiting to trade him, which would have allowed the organization to genuinely test the market and try to get something back in return, they essentially sidelined him. The message they sent was loud and clear: we’re not willing to even explore that option.
Why does that matter? Because trading Paul would have forced the Clippers to have a real conversation with themselves about what went wrong. It would have meant acknowledging that they built a roster that couldn’t work together, that the chemistry never gelled, and that maybe — just maybe — some of their most prominent players needed to accept accountability. Instead, they chose the easier route: blame the veteran point guard for being disruptive with his accountability measures, keep your star player Kawhi Leonard untouched, and hope nobody notices the elephant in the room.
The reports paint a troubling picture. Paul had become not on speaking terms with head coach Tyronn Lue for several. Paul’s leadership style was vocal and uncompromising — he held people accountable, and he wasn’t afraid to be critical of the front office. This is the same Chris Paul who spent the last season with the San Antonio Spurs in what people described as a player-coach hybrid role, helping develop their young roster. So we’re not talking about someone who’s suddenly become a problem at this stage of his career. We’re talking about someone whose standards don’t match the Clippers’ current situation.
The real story here is what the Clippers’ decision reveals about their organizational priorities. Kawhi Leonard, their franchise centerpiece, comes with his own complications. There’s an ongoing NBA investigation into whether the team violated salary cap regulations. Last season, he played in only 37 games, yet when he was on the court, the Clippers played at a pace suggesting a 58-win team with a point differential of a 66-win team. In other words, Kawhi is worth building around when healthy, but that’s a massive when.
If the Clippers truly wanted to confront their failures, they would have made different choices. They could have explored trading Paul to a contending team looking for veteran leadership and playoff experience—there are probably a dozen teams right now that would have interest in a future Hall of Famer, even on a $3.6 million deal. A trade creates leverage, opens dialogue, and forces you to think bigger. Instead, the organization chose to quietly shuffle a legend out the door in the middle of the night and issued carefully worded statements about accepting responsibility while doing the exact opposite.
The timing is what really stings about this whole situation. Paul signed up for what he thought would be a victory lap, a final season with the franchise where he made his mark during the Lob City era. Clippers president Lawrence Frank even acknowledged that Chris is not to blame for our struggles, and that he was taking responsibility for the team’s 5-16 record. Yet at the same time, they’re sending him home. Those two statements don’t align. If he’s not responsible for the record, then why is he the one going home?
What makes this particularly frustrating is that both Kawhi Leonard and James Harden found out about Paul’s release through social media. These are the franchise’s biggest names, and they were blindsided by internal communication before learning it was public knowledge. That says everything about how disorganized this franchise has become.
Here’s the thing, folks: The Clippers could have faced their problems directly. They could have made hard choices about roster construction, could have facilitated trades to find better fit, could have held their star players to the same standards they’re holding Chris Paul to. Instead, they took the coward’s way out: blame the old guy, protect the young stars, and hope everyone forgets about it by the All-Star break.
With that… Trading Paul would have been harder in the short term, but it would have been the honest thing to do. It would have meant acknowledging that building around Kawhi Leonard without addressing the supporting cast isn’t working. It would have meant accepting that sometimes, even when you keep the talent, you lose the team. The Clippers chose comfort over confrontation, and now they have to live with that decision when they’re sitting at 5-16 with no clear path forward.
If you cannot play with them, then root for them!