Chris Paul on playing with the Banana Boat crew: ‘Anything's possible’
Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul does not rule out possibly playing on the same team as Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James, he tells the Open Run podcast with Jesse Williams and Stefan Marolachakis.
Paul is expected to become a free agent at the end of the season. Paul, Anthony and James are three of the four members of the NBA's famous "Banana Boat" crew after they snapped photographs of themselves on vacation in June.
Paul was asked whether the Banana Boat crew would make it onto an NBA court playing together in any dream scenario.
“Anything’s possible,” Paul said. “Definitely, anything’s possible.”
“We’ll work out together and stuff like that sometimes,” he added. “The last time [we played together] was 2008, some time around the Olympics. D-Wade was coming off his injury. He hit us up and said, ‘I need to see what it's like to play for real.’ We all met in Chicago. I’ll never forget that. We went to a gym in Chicago and we played pick-up with some other guys just to give him some of that real feel, what it was like. Then, I don’t know if you remember, at the 2008 Olympics, [Wade] went off. That’s what you do for your real friends and your real brothers.”
Dwyane Wade is the fourth member but it is unlikely that he would be on the move after signing a two-year deal worth $47 million with the Chicago Bulls. In August, James signed a three-year deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers worth $100 million.
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On the podcast, Paul also notes there are several factors that he will consider on whether he would like to play and that his family will have input on the decision.
“You think about the feel.” Paul said. “Obviously, basketball is a huge part of it. I even think about with the trade that brought me here to L.A. That whole process opened my eyes. ... There were a few places, I just didn’t want to live there. Believe it or not, my wife actually has input in this decision. Seriously, there’s a conversation we have about our kids. Basketball is a huge part of it, but it’s also about the way of life and how it’s going to be for my kids.”
James told Bleacher Report that he would be on-board for teaming up together before they all retire.
“I really hope that, before our career is over, we can all play together,” James said. “At least one, maybe one or two seasons—me, Melo, D-Wade, CP—we can get a year in. I would actually take a pay cut to do that.”
