After a Turbulent Season Start, the LA Clippers Are Preparing to Break Away from Chris Paul

The LA Clippers ended the 2024–25 season on a note of promise. They reached the 50-win mark and battled the reigning champion Denver Nuggets all the way to a tense, hard-fought seven-game series in the opening round of the playoffs. It was the kind of performance that suggested the franchise was on the verge of something sustainable — a foundation that, with the right pieces, could still contend in the competitive Western Conference.

In response, the front office went into the offseason aiming to reinforce that momentum. Their solution was to bring in a collection of highly decorated veterans — big names with long résumés and even longer careers — in hopes that experience would translate to postseason toughness by next spring.

But the strategy appears to have backfired spectacularly.

The Clippers, in assembling this group of aging stars, overlooked one of the most basic rules in professional sports: relying too heavily on players whose prime years are well behind them is a gamble that rarely pays off.

Now, less than two months into the new NBA season, the organization is already pulling the plug on the most high-profile of those bets. According to a report from NBA insider Chris Haynes, Los Angeles has decided to “send home” 12-time All-Star Chris Paul — a move that all but confirms the team no longer plans for him to be part of their future. Whether Paul will ultimately be waived, traded, or choose to retire has yet to be determined, but the writing is firmly on the wall.

Paul’s decline has been difficult to watch. Even on a Clippers roster plagued by injuries to key perimeter players, the 40-year-old point guard has struggled to provide consistent minutes. The team has stumbled out of the gate to a 5–16 record, placing them near the bottom of the Western Conference standings and trending downward quickly.

Through 16 games off the bench, Paul is averaging career lows across the board: just 2.9 points on .321/.333/.308 shooting splits, 3.3 assists, and 1.8 rebounds in 14.3 minutes per game. His diminished production has been so glaring that Paul has essentially acknowledged on social media that this 21st NBA season may be his last.

It’s a steep drop for a player who once defined excellence at the position.

Paul’s previous tenure with the Clippers — the electric “Lob City” era — remains one of the brightest stretches of his Hall of Fame–bound career. From 2011–12 through 2016–17, he teamed up with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan to form one of the league’s most dynamic cores. In 409 regular-season games with LA, Paul averaged 18.8 points, 9.8 assists, 3.6 rebounds, and 2.2 steals while shooting an elite .475 from the field, .378 from three, and .881 from the line. During that run, he earned six straight All-Defensive First Team selections, five All-Star appearances, five All-NBA nods, and finished in the top seven of MVP voting five times. Those Clippers teams won 51 or more games in five separate seasons — though they famously could never break through the second round.

Paul would later experience deeper postseason success elsewhere. He helped lead the Houston Rockets to a seven-game showdown in the 2018 Western Conference Finals against the eventual champion Golden State Warriors. Then in 2021, he guided the Phoenix Suns to the NBA Finals, taking a commanding 2–0 lead before the team fell to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Despite his travels around the league, Paul’s family remained based in Los Angeles, and his years with the Clippers arguably represented the height of his popularity and national profile. After playing all 82 games for the rebuilding San Antonio Spurs last season, Paul opted to return home, signing a veteran minimum deal in hopes of contributing to a playoff-caliber roster.

Instead, the reunion has collapsed under the weight of injuries, aging legs, and a season spiraling out of control.

The Clippers confirmed the move in a statement to The Athletic’s Law Murray, saying:
“We are parting ways with Chris and he will no longer be with the team. We will work with him on the next step of his career. Chris is a legendary Clipper who has had a historic career. To be clear, no one is blaming Chris for our underperformance. I accept responsibility for the record we have right now. There are many reasons behind our struggles, and we’re grateful for the impact Chris has made on the franchise.”

Who exactly issued that statement remains unspecified, leaving open the question of whether it came from head coach Tyronn Lue, team president Lawrence Frank, or majority owner Steve Ballmer. Regardless of the source, the message underscores a reality that is becoming harder to ignore: the Clippers’ 2025–26 season has devolved into a disappointing, chaotic stumble, and a franchise once thought ready to climb now finds itself searching for stability — again.