Three potential Chris Paul landing spots, and why his next move is complicated

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. If Chris Paul and the Clippers had parted a few weeks from now, ideally at a more reasonable hour, it could be chalked up to a Hall of Fame player preferring to finish his career in a different environment, perhaps one that includes more winning or minutes. But that's not how this played out.

News of the Paul-Clippers separation broke a little before 3 a.m. ET on Wednesday, and yes, that is the appropriate time zone. The Clippers are in the middle of a four-game road trip. They played in Miami on Monday and will face the Hawks in Atlanta on Wednesday. This is not a rumor. Paul himself shared an Instagram post at 2:40 a.m. saying he'd just been sent home. The Clippers released a statement half an hour later confirming that Paul "will no longer be with the team."

Here's the problem: the Clippers technically can't separate from Paul officially, at least not yet. They have less than $1.3 million in room beneath their first-apron hard cap and only 14 players on the roster, so they can't waive his guaranteed salary. Teams can only drop below 14 rostered players for 14 days at a time and 28 days total in a season, and the Clippers don't have enough room to sign a veteran to replace Paul. They can't trade him either, as he was signed as a free agent this offseason, so the earliest he could be moved would be Dec. 15. So we're at least 12 days away from something official here. This happening now suggests that there's more to this story that we don't know yet.

And that makes it pretty hard to predict what comes next. Paul hasn't played well this season, averaging just 2.9 points in 14.3 minutes on 32.1% shooting. Maybe he still has something left in the tank in a better situation. He was a viable, rotation-level point guard for the Spurs last season. But nobody gets dumped at 3 a.m. for performance alone. Until we know what really happened, it's hard to say which teams, if any, would be interested in allowing Paul complete his retirement tour with some dignity. Several of the teams that were interested over the summer have likely moved on. 

Milwaukee has gotten plenty of bang for its buck out of Ryan Rollins, Cole Anthony, Gary Trent Jr. and Kevin Porter Jr. The breakout of Collin Gillespie likely means there wouldn't be minutes available for him in Phoenix. The Lakers have sniffed around Paul several times in the past, but the last thing they need is another old ball-handler. There will be a sentimental push among some fans to get him back to Oklahoma City so he can try to finally win that elusive championship ring, but the Thunder have a full roster, no minutes to spare and no great need for veteran leadership after already winning the 2025 title. The Rockets could use another guard. With the contracts and draft picks at their disposal, they can do better.

So finding Paul a new team won't be easy. It's possible he's played his last NBA game. If there is a fit here, it probably isn't a winning team. Paul just didn't play well enough to justify minutes for a team playing high-stakes basketball, and if Paul wanted to languish on a contender's bench, he frankly would have chosen to do so in prior offseasons. He wants to play. It might have to be for a younger team hoping to benefit from his years of wisdom. Ideally, it would be a Western Conference team, as Paul spoke openly about his desire to be closer to his family in Los Angeles before returning to the Clippers. That's not exactly a long list. Really, only three teams even come to mind.

New Orleans Pelicans

Here's the heartwarming reunion that actually makes a shred of sense. The Pelicans have a full roster, but some fairly expendable back-of-roster players they could easily swap out for Paul. Let's make it a reunion special and ship DeAndre Jordan back to the Clippers. The 3-19 Pelicans have the worst record in the NBA and nothing to play for this season, so bringing in a clearly diminished Paul wouldn't dim any short-term ambitions of theirs.

But he would be a valuable mentor for rookie point guard Jeremiah Fears. Paul's track record is excellent in that respect. He spent a year with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in Oklahoma City and that obviously turned out quite well for the Thunder. He helped Devin Booker reach the Finals in his first trip to the playoffs, and Booker remains a star to this day. Stephon Castle won Rookie of the Year under Paul's watch. When your promising young guard is averaging below three assists per game, Paul is probably the sort of veteran you want hanging around him.

Paul's Hall of Fame résumé would bring a layer of legitimacy to a young team like the Pelicans. That's something New Orleans needs. This organization is routinely criticized for its cheapness and lack of professionalism, with Dejounte Murray's offseason comments serving as the latest shot on that front. Having someone around who knows what a successful organization looks like certainly couldn't hurt. Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver have seemingly made leadership a priority in their first season on the job. That's why they overpaid Kevon Looney despite a skillset that doesn't exactly fit with their younger big men, and it's probably part of what got Jordan a job early in the year, as he's a widely beloved teammate. 

"Beloved" isn't always the term used on Paul. He's a kick in the pants more than a pat on the shoulder. But when you're 3-19, you probably need the former more than the latter. The real hangup here is how far Los Angeles is from New Orleans. There's a reason so many expansion plans seemingly include the Pelicans moving to the Eastern Conference. Still, a trade would amount to four months in Louisiana before his retirement, and it would give Paul a chance to mend fences with his first NBA fanbase. This is the only team that really makes a lot of sense.

Dallas Mavericks

The Mavericks just did a speed run of the standard D'Angelo Russell experience. It's been a month-and-a-half and he's already fighting just to stay in the rotation. It usually takes teams a bit longer to fall out of love with the inconsistent former All-Star, but remember, Dallas is coached by Jason Kidd, a Hall of Fame point guard. It's hard to imagine him having much patience for such an up-and-down player.

Paul is cut from a similar cloth as Kidd: relentless competitors and genius basketball thinkers. Cooper Flagg could benefit from his presence in many of the same ways that Fears would, though he obviously isn't a traditional point guard. The Mavericks could match money easily enough with Danté Exum, who's out for the season due to a knee injury. The Clippers just need someone to occupy their 14th roster spot. They don't have to actually use that player, though obviously, that would be preferable.

The potential fringe benefit here? Paul could be a pretty helpful stealth tanking move. To players in the locker room, such an addition could be viewed as a rallying cry. "We're adding a Hall of Famer! We can still turn this season around!" But if he's still the player he was for the Clippers, well, that's not someone helping anyone win games, especially a team that needs shot-creation as badly as this team does. That should suit a Mavericks team who controls its own first-round pick for the last time until 2031 quite well. Paul could come in, teach Flagg some of his old tricks, retire with a bit of dignity, and then leave Dallas with a high draft pick. Seems like a nice outcome for everyone involved.

Sacramento Kings

Yes, I know. The Kings have a guard glut. The Kings have an old guard glut. Sacramento seemingly fired its former star guard bullet on Russell Westbrook, who has actually played well for them. DeMar DeRozan is still here. So is Zach LaVine. Malik Monk. Dennis Schröder. They can't find minutes for Keon Ellis, the best defender on the roster. Promising rookie Nique Clifford should also probably be playing more for a team in rebuild mode. All of that is valid.

But you know what the Kings never actually addressed? Their need for a point guard. A traditional one, the sort Domantas Sabonis lobbied for after last season. Now, Sacramento's 5-16 start has likely put a pause on any veteran additions. Realistically, Paul could probably only come after another guard is traded to create some minutes. It certainly seems as though the Kings are trying, albeit with limited success thus far.

But the reality here is that most of the Western Conference is trying to win games, and very few 40-year-old point guards have ever successfully helped a team do that. If Paul is going to get minutes anywhere, they probably have to be low-stakes minutes. Almost every minute the Kings have played for 20 years have been low stakes. If they can clear out their glut a little bit, Paul does seemingly fit a hole they've been trying to fill ever since they traded De'Aaron Fox. A Hall of Famer like Paul deserves better than retiring on one of the NBA's worst organizations, but his options are probably limited at this point. At least the Kings play in California, making for a reasonably easy trip home to Los Angeles.