Despite never winning an NBA Championship, Chris Paul will go down as one of the greatest Clippers of all-time. Alongside Doc Rivers, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan, Paul lifted the LA Clippers franchise out of the gutter and helped lead them to six consecutive playoff appearances after a combined four since moving to Los Angeles in 1984.
Chris Paul's departure from LA was less than amicable, with both sides agreeing it was time to move on from the Lob City era. In his first game back, Paul and Griffin got into a number of verbal exchanges, and the infamous secret tunnel story came out later that night when a few Rockets players tried to enter the Clippers locker room using a back hallway led by the former Clippers guard.
Paul has been instrumental is getting the NBA's bubble set up and players on board with playing. During last week's intense, emotional players' meeting the night of the first strike, it was Chris Paul who asked Clippers head coach Doc Rivers to speak and advise players.
“I am not going to go too far into it because it was a players meeting that they invited the coaches and they wanted me to talk in it,” Rivers said. “I didn’t really even want to talk, I thought it should be a players thing, but Chris Paul really urged me to just say something so I did.”
On Friday, Rivers was asked by ClutchPoints about his relationship with Paul, which wasn't a good one upon leaving Los Angeles.
“Our relationship is great,” Rivers said. “We put that behind us a year ago at least, golfed a bunch this summer before the season started. We cleaned the air long ago. That happens from coach-player a lot. Usually when a guy leaves a company, in business, most of the time it's not on great terms, even if they're just going to another opportunity, but usually you come back to that company and say thank you and appreciate all the things you've done, and I think that was CP and our case. That's old news with us.”
Doc Rivers on his relationship with Chris Paul – “It’s great. We put that behind us a year ago. We golfed a bunch. Usually when a guy leaves a company, it might not be on great terms, but you come back, say thank you, and appreciate what they’ve done. That’s CP in our case.” pic.twitter.com/X4IP8bG3Hj
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) September 4, 2020
Rivers is highly respected by players, coaches, and executives around the NBA, so it's no surprise that Paul asked him to speak.
“In the [bubble meetings], he just used me as a sounding board and I was glad that I could provide that for him. But him and Andre Iguodala, their leadership to me is what stood out.”
Chris Paul surprised everyone when he led the Oklahoma City Thunder into the playoffs and pushed the Rockets to seven games.
Doc Rivers' Clippers will take on the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night in Game 2 of their first round series.
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