Los Angeles Lakers point guard Rajon Rondo had some choice words for Chris Paul following their skirmish last season. Was what Rondo said right?
It is official Los Angeles Lakers and NBA fans. There is absolutely no down time in the offseason. It seemed like 30 minutes after the Toronto Raptors won the NBA Finals, all seemingly was forgotten.
The Zion Williamson era started with the NBA Draft. Then afterwards, all of the superstars started playing musical chairs. Then Kawhi Leonard almost eliminated the Raptors from next season’s title chase (as well as the memory NBA fans out of Canada seemingly) by going back to Los Angeles to play for the Clippers.
The bigger shock was the orchestrating of the Paul George trade from the Oklahoma City Thunder.
If that wasn’t enough, a deal on Thursday happened. A deal that seemed even more unlikely than what Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Jerry West put together.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have agreed to trade Russell Westbrook to the Houston Rockets for Chris Paul, first-round picks in 2024 and 2026, pick swaps in 2021 and 2025, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 12, 2019
To be clear here, the surprise is not that Houston found a way to get Chris Paul out-of-town. By the time the Rockets were eliminated from the Western Conference semifinals with a Durant-less Golden State Warriors, it was rumored that Chris Paul and James Harden were dealing with philosophical differences.
The verbal altercation after the Game 6 loss was considered the last straw by Yahoo! Sports’ Vincent Goodwill as he called the relationship “unsalvageable”. Soon after, rumors of trade demands and offers started floating around.
If the locker room was being divided because of these two, fueled by reports that Harden and Paul had gone numerous weeks without speaking to each other, this is nothing new. It just depends on how bad you believe the rift was.
Does any of this sound familiar? It shouldn’t.
Remember Dwight Howard and James Harden had the same problems a few years ago before he was dismissed to Atlanta on the first leg of his journeyman tour. That tour has led Howard out of the NBA pending Memphis’ time frame of waiving him. But who’s to blame here? Is it James Harden or Chris Paul?
This past week Kenyon Martin talked to SI Now about how he was not surprised that Chris Paul was the odd man out in Houston.
"“People have heard these things before about Chris Paul, not only from me but other teammates,” Martin said. “Where there’s smoke, I’m a firm believer there’s fire.” “He always wants to be the biggest voice in the room when it comes to basketball and I think that rubs guys the wrong way.”"
No matter how anyone tries to spin this story, James Harden basically demanded Russell Westbrook to be brought to Houston the second Oklahoma City made it clear that Westbrook was available.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski is already reporting that the Thunder is already planning to deal Chris Paul to another team (Miami is the rumored favorite) before training camp. How else can you explain Houston taking on an even worse contract in Russell Westbrook than Chris Paul’s three-year, $124 million dollar contract while giving up first-round picks for the privilege?
In other words, Chris Paul’s contract has turned him into an overrated, aging star in decline that has forced himself out of three NBA franchises. In short, he is a liability.
With this being a Los Angeles Lakers website, why is the conversation about a deal with Houston? What does that have to do with the Lakers?
Okay, listen to Tony Kornheiser and Stephen A. Smith talk about the Chris Paul situation and how the Lakers could get involved.
Let’s just say for argument’s sake that Chris Paul takes the buyout and becomes a free agent. Is there a chance that he would join LeBron James in L.A. filling the point guard void? Let me answer that question for you. Umm, yes.
Only one thing, though, Rajon Rondo just signed a two-year deal with the Lakers just last week. Plus I’m sure that everyone at this point knows that Rajon Rondo and Chris Paul can’t stand each other.
The Chris Paul narrative is not a good look at this point. But somebody warned us all long before all of this came to pass. His name is Rajon Rondo.
When he was suspended for his fight with Chris Paul early in the season, he was very vocal about what type of teammate Paul was. He was torched in the media as a jealous player that was not afforded the respect of his nemesis. Let’s take a look back, shall we?