Chris Paul will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, and for the first time ever he actually seems in play. Given how the Clippers have exited the playoffs over the past three seasons — the crushing Game 6 collapse against Houston in 2015, followed by injury-influenced first-round ejections in 2016 and 2017 — CP3 might have some wanderlust.
Why Chris Paul would be perfect for the Spurs
Fitting CP3 in with Pop, Leonard, and the Spurs is the easy part. Finding the cap space to make it happen is tougher.
Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images
Los Angeles can pay Paul more than anyone else by a substantial margin thanks to salary cap rules Paul himself helped write into the new collective bargaining agreement. But CP3 has made about $160 million on the court and millions more as State Farm’s lead endorser and a guy with almost a dozen signature shoes from Jordan Brand. The power of the almighty dollar is strong, but if Paul is at all concerned about his legacy as a player, getting out of the Clippers’ doom spiral might be wise.
What keeps the rumor mill quiet about CP3 is that he is so discerning and erudite a basketball player that it’s hard to imagine him signing just anywhere. Really, the only team that seems reasonable outside of L.A. is the San Antonio Spurs.
How interesting, then, that Zach Lowe mentioned on a podcast this week that there’s some smoke around CP3 to the Spurs. It won’t be easy, but these things rarely are.
The Pau Gasol problem
To have any real chance of creating the cap space necessarily to sign CP3 outright, though, the Spurs need Pau Gasol to opt out of his $16 million contract. There’s no financial reason Pau should opt out of his $16 million contract, because there’s no way he’s making that much money anywhere else next year.
But the Spurs work in mysterious ways. Perhaps if Pau was sold that San Antonio would bring him back on a much, much cheaper deal over multiple years — a deal that’d give him a real chance to win another title — he’d do it. It worked with Richard Jefferson!
Getting Gasol to opt out doesn’t get San Antonio all of the way there, though.
Losing Tony Parker
Tony Parker is very unlikely to retire after rupturing his quad in the playoffs. He’s already had surgery and the recovery time for this type of injury appears to be 6-8 months. He should be back on the court by Christmas.
But because this is a major injury and Parker is already wearing down due to mileage and age, his trade value is at an all-time low. The Spurs don’t usually lose starters in salary dumps, and San Antonio didn’t get ahead by selling low. Parker could be an exception. He’s a Spurs legend, but if moving him helps add a superstar talent like CP3, San Antonio’s braintrust will pull the trigger.
Parker is a free agent in 2018, so trading for him wouldn’t require a long-term commitment. If the Spurs don’t ask for anything but cap space and perhaps throw in a sweetener like the No. 29 pick, they could find a partner.
The LaMarcus problem
The Spurs went out and made a shocking free agent splash two years ago by signing LaMarcus Aldridge. The power forward’s stock has since dropped, especially after the Warriors made him look anachronistic in the Western finals. He’s a very good player of his type. Unfortunately, his type is out of vogue.
Selling low on Parker, a player nearing the end of his career, is one thing. Selling low on Aldridge would be quite another. It’s unlikely the Spurs do it unless another team really likes Aldridge and is willing to send back a young player with promise (and a big chunk of cap space).
Aldridge’s contract is $21 million. Getting $15 million in cap space is the aim here, so the Spurs could take back about $6 million in salary and justify it if that $6 million has promise. How about Aldridge to the Lakers for Julius Randle and a second?
If the Spurs don’t trade Parker or Aldridge, or if Pau opts in and the Spurs are only able to move one of Parker or Aldridge, the path to cap space is much more difficult. It would involve trading Danny Green and letting Jonathon Simmons, Dewayne Dedmon, and Patty Mills all walk, plus working around the edges to open up as much space as possible for CP3. Unless San Antonio erases two of out Parker, Aldridge, and Pau, getting the cap space required seems like a huge stretch.
But why CP3?
Why invest $150 million in a 32-year-old point guard who has never been beyond the second round?
Because he’s Chris [expletive] Paul!
Is there a more Popovichian point guard than Chris Paul? Is there a coach as exacting and CP3ian as Gregg Popovich?
The knock on Chris Paul is that he wears on his teammates for demanding so much, for paying such close attention to every detail and expecting everyone else to do the same. The knock on Gregg Popovich is ... exactly the same. He rides his players and expects them to limit mistakes and execute the game plan on every possession.
The bitter dismay Popovich has for an out-of-shape Boris Diaw or an out-of-control Patty Mills is the same exactly disapproval Chris Paul gives to a DeAndre Jordan turnover or a J.J. Redick missed assignment. They both expect so much because they are each so capable of so much.
Put them together with an inexhaustible and deferential superstar like Kawhi Leonard and you have straight-up magic.
It’s also hard to imagine a better franchise for an aging legend to join to lengthen their career. Tim Duncan balled until age 40 and Manu Ginobili showed he’s still got it at 39. Popovich’s commitment to rest — and the need to bring Dejounte Murray along — could add years to CP3’s career.
Fitting CP3 in with Pop, Leonard, and the Spurs is the easy part. Finding the cap space to make it happen is tougher. But if any franchise can make smart decisions to extend their unparalleled run of success, it’s the San Antonio Spurs.
