Clippers Can't Afford to Bench Chris Paul No Matter How Badly He's Playing

The Los Angeles Clippers' disastrous start to the season continued on Saturday as they fell to the Phoenix Suns at home to fall to 3-6 for the season. The worst start to a season in the Ty Lue era forced the head coach to make uncomfortable decisions, which included benching Chris Paul and Bogdan Bogdanovic entirely. The two veterans were DNP-Coach's Decision for the game despite it not being on a back-to-back.

Paul and Bogdanovic have both been playing very poorly to start the season, and cutting them from the rotation may seem like a reasonable move. However, especially with Kawhi Leonard sidelined, the Clippers can't afford not to play Paul as the team's offensive limitations were very evident on Saturday.

Clippers Still Desperately Need Chris Paul

At this stage of his career, Paul obviously can't play too many minutes. He was averaging 12.9 minutes per game before Saturday and missed his first game since the 2023-24 season. He is shooting 24% from the field and 26.3% from three this season. Those are obviously horrendous numbers, but Paul is still one of the few shot creators on this team.

Without Paul, too much offensive load falls on James Harden. The 36-year-old guard had to play over 40 minutes against the Suns. Harden has aged gracefully and is in the midst of another All-Star caliber season, but that is too much to ask of him. He has a usage rate of 27.4% for the season, significantly higher than his Sixers stint and first year with the Clippers.

The only other creator on the team is Bradley Beal, and he is currently on a minutes limit. It's not like he is on a tear through the first nine games of the season. Kris Dunn saw an increased role without Paul and Bogdanovic, but he is a limited offensive player.

Having Dunn, Derrick Jones Jr., and Ivica Zubac on the floor together means three players whose shots the opposing defenses don't respect. This cramps the spacing and makes things very difficult for Harden. This resulted in the Clippers having a 113.5 offensive rating against a below-average Suns defense.

Even when he is not being efficient, defenses still respect Paul. He will be guarded from beyond the arc, and he can still pass the ball to keep the offense humming. He still has the ability to run a pick-and-roll to put his teammates in positions to succeed, while at the same time taking the pressure off Harden.

Currently, the Clippers' offense is 22.9 points per 100 possessions worse when Harden is off the floor, per Cleaning The Glass data. It's obvious that Lue has to find a solution for those minutes. No matter how badly CP3 may be playing right now, he is the team's best hope to keep the offense afloat, especially when Leonard is unavailable.