Clippers part ways with Chris Paul: What we know about bizarre overnight move involving team legend

The Los Angeles Clippers surprisingly announced overnight Wednesday that they are parting ways with future Hall of Famer Chris Paul.  The decision, which seemingly happened in the early morning hours with the Clippers in Atlanta during a road trip, comes as the team sits 14th in the Western Conference with a dismal 5-16 record to start the season. Paul, a Clippers legend who re-signed with the team this summer, recently announced intentions to retire at the end of the 2025-26 season.

"We are parting ways with Chris and he will no longer be with the team," president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said in a statement to ESPN. "We will work with him on the next step of his career. Chris is a legendary Clipper who has had a historic career. I want to make one thing very clear. No one is blaming Chris for our underperformance. I accept responsibility for the record we have right now. There are a lot of reasons why we've struggled. We're grateful for the impact Chris has made on our franchise."

The timing of the move is shocking and confusing for many reasons. Announcing you're parting ways with any player in the middle of the night is bizarre. To do so with a 40-year-old franchise legend in the midst of his final season is even stranger. Paul posted "just found out I'm being sent home" with a peace finger emoji on Instagram around 2:40 a.m. ET on Wednesday.

Paul was averaging just 2.9 points and 3.3 assists this season in 14.3 minutes per game for the Clippers this season, his 21st in the NBA. Paul started in all 82 games for the San Antonio Spurs and averaged 28 minutes per game last season.

Why did the Clippers make this move?

Details are starting to trickle in on the situation, with The Athletic reporting that Paul did not initiate the decision to be sent home from the Clippers and wanted to end his career there. Chris Haynes is reporting that there was some tension between Paul and the team, as the future Hall of Famer requested a meeting with Clippers coach Ty Lue a couple weeks ago to discuss internal rumors about how he's been a "negative presence" on team. Lue refused to meet with Paul, whose vocal criticism of the roster, coaching staff and management was wearing thin, per ESPN. Lue and Paul have reportedly not been on speaking terms over the last few weeks.

Given that Frank didn't use the word "waive" or "release" in the statement, that means the Clippers will in all likelihood look to trade Paul, who is eligible to be dealt on Dec. 15. But finding a team that would want to trade for a 40-year-old guard who plans on retiring at the end of the season may prove to be difficult.

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Paul is averaging career lows in his 21st season, but he is by no means the reason the Clippers are severely underperforming. He collected five DNP-CD's in early-to-mid November, but after it was announced that Bradley Beal would miss the remainder of the season with a hip fracture, Paul found his way back into coach Ty Lue's rotation.

Regardless of what happens in the coming weeks, this move ends Paul's playing career with the Clippers on a strange and sour note. Paul is the reason the Clippers have any success at all, pulling this franchise up from obscurity and carrying them to six straight playoff appearances between 2011 and 2017, which is still the most consecutive playoff appearances the Clippers have made in franchise history.

And this is by no means the first time the Clippers have had a rocky ending with a franchise star. 

Blake Griffin was similarly blindsided when he was dealt to the Detroit Pistons in the middle of the 2017-18 season, just months after he signed a contract extension with the team, which essentially confirmed his commitment to the franchise. Griffin has spoken about how upsetting that was for him, and now Paul joins him as another franchise great to get the boot unexpectedly.