In the midst of a chaotic free agency period, L.A. Clippers president and head coach Doc Rivers assured his point guard Chris Paul is “absolutely” staying with the team, according to TMZ Sports.
The Clippers can offer the most as far as salary and length of contract, possibly rewarding Paul with a five-year, $205 million contract, which would keep him in Lob City likely for the remainder of his career.
The San Antonio Spurs have emerged as a potential bidder in the CP3 sweepstakes, but would not be able to offer as much as L.A. — only a four-year, $152 million deal, but it will come with the possibility of playing alongside Kawhi Leonard and even LaMarcus Aldridge if he remains with the team.
The Spurs have a vast amount of options to make this happen — they can shed a lot of free agent contracts and renounce the rights to them and let them walk, freeing up cap space to sign Paul and line him up with Leonard and Aldridge.
They can trade Aldridge, freeing up plenty of room to sign him and work on a one-two punch alongside Leonard — or they can also look to do a sign-and-trade with the Clippers, but could only offer the veteran $152 million in the deal.
Rivers holds the cards in his pocket if he chooses to keep him in town and will likely have to pull out the checkbook quite early as the veteran dime wizard is looking to set himself with one last big paycheck through his NBA career.
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