Chris Paul is coming home to where basketball arguably felt most engaging to him. Nearly a decade after his last Clippers game, he returns for a final campaign in blue, red, and silver. At 40 and on a one-year deal worth $3.6 million that signifies his last hurrah, he is venturing to close the loop with resolve. The roster may be littered with marquee names — Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, and Bradley Beal among them — but none can quite approximate the relationship he has with the franchise. And, certainly, it defines his aim to revisit a version of himself that once made the team relevant.
The Clippers of the previous decade may not have produced any hardware, but make no mistake: They mattered. Paul made sure of it, orchestrating proceedings with remarkable flourish; he delivered with authority and, admittedly, abrasion that occasionally rubbed those around him the wrong way. Still, there could be no arguing with the results; under his watch, they won consistently and played memorably. Not for nothing is he still the franchise’s all-time assists leader. He set a standard, and so profound was his influence that stalwarts of the new generation live in the shadow of the potential he burgeoned. Which is why, in returning, he is both a familiar sight and a reminder of how he held court.
Paul is, to be sure, way past his prime. He knows he won’t be hogging minutes in what he has announced as his last season in the National Basketball Association. Instead, he’s embracing his role as a steadying presence. He won’t start most nights, and he may not finish matches as well, but what he brings to the table — composure, precision, the ability to bend the game to his will — carries a timeless quality. His fit is less about numbers and more about tone. A franchise that has long leaned on possibilities once again has a player wired to demand purpose from every possession.
The homecoming, Paul has acknowledged, is personal in nature. Among other things, his family is in Los Angeles. That said, he spurned offers from such notables as the Bucks and the Mavericks to circle back to where unfinished business still lingers. It’s a pattern not unique to him. Stars across sports have returned to former digs late in their careers, seeking not redemption but resolution. The pro hoops landscape is littered with personalities who helped shape a team’s identity, left to further a career, and then came back to close the door on it with intention.
Needless to say, Paul does not need a championship to validate his legacy. If his final run ends in heartbreak, so be it; his place in the game is already secure. All the same, the prospects are enticing. Because he and the Clippers are still chasing their first title, theirs is a reunion that speaks as much of sentiment as of structure. In any case, he’s slated to leave the sport the way he wants: on his own terms.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.