It's tough for current Phoenix Suns point guard Chris Paul to have played 18 years in the NBA without a championship, but he believes that it's even tougher for the people around him, including his daughter.
He may very well be a first-ballot Hall-Of-Famer when it's all said and done, but Chris Paul's playoff struggles have been well-documented. From numerous blown leads, notably the 3-1 lead against the Rockets in 2015, the heart-breaking blown lead against the Thunder in 2014, the blown 2-0 lead against the Bucks in his lone NBA Finals appearance, to as recent as the Suns' back-to-back embarrassing elimination games against the Dallas Mavericks in 2022 and against the Denver Nuggets these playoffs.
Those kinds of struggles leave a mark on Paul, it casts a shadow that follows him and his family. He shared a little bit of his personal side on a recent episode of the Pivot Podcast and talks about how said struggles did just that:
"[My daughter] at the age now where at school kids talk crazy to her. She had a little boy at school that said some reckless stuff to her was like, 'Your daddy ain't never gon' win no championship.'"
Chris Paul on not winning an NBA title
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“My daughter is the sweetest soul you'll ever meet in your life. She's at that age now where at school, kids talk crazy to her,” Paul says about her daughter, Camryn Alexis Paul. “So she had a little boy at school that said some reckless stuff to her. He was like, ‘Your Daddy ain't never going to win no championship.'”
Chris Paul said his daughter called him about that incident, and he had to comfort her. “I had to have that conversation with her and talk to her and tell her, like ‘Baby, some people talk and some people do.'”
Paul is 38 years old and is currently one of the oldest players in the league today. He knows that his time is dwindling away, but he remains steadfast and optimistic even with his playoff struggles, always focusing on what he can do with what he has with the Suns.
As mad as I am and whatnot, I cannot let [my playoff struggles] define me,” Paul says. “I got to get back to work. And I think that's what's happened over my career is when those things happen, I take that night to let it process, and then that next morning, I got to get back to work. I work as hard as I can to make sure it doesn't happen again.”