Lawrence Frank's Embarrassing Chris Paul Remarks Should Bring the End of His Tenure

Clippers' statement on Chris Paul completely misses the mark.

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Since taking over as the lead decision-maker for the Los Angeles Clippers in 2017, Lawrence Frank has generally been considered one of the better GMs in the league. He has consistently built winners despite his splashiest move of pairing Kawhi Leonard and Paul George hasn't necessarily panned out. Even though an NBA championship continued to elude the franchise, the Clippers made the Conference Finals for the first time in their history under this regime.

As the old saying goes, however, Frank has lived long enough to see himself become the villain. After a series of questionable moves that included moving on from Norman Powell and bringing in Brook Lopez, Chris Paul, and Bradley Beal to build the oldest team in NBA history, Frank has exhausted all of his goodwill among the fanbase. How he handled the CP3 situation was the last drop for many Clippers fans.

Clippers' Chris Paul Statement Completely Misses the Mark

Not only did the Clippers decide to part ways with the best player in franchise history in the middle of the night on a road trip, but they also released an embarrassing statement to try to justify their decision. Frank said, "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. 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 the franchise."

First of all, absolutely no one was blaming Paul for the team's struggles anyway. There is no need to mention that as if that were the case. Secondly, if the Clippers really wanted to "work with him on the next step of his career," they could have done this behind the scenes. Telling him to go home in the middle of a road trip is obviously not the best way to handle things. Plus, Paul has already decided on the next step of his career by coming to LA to be closer to his family and have a farewell tour before retiring as a Clipper. Claiming that you have Paul's best interests at heart while doing him dirty is obviously disingenuous.

This team is 5-16. Paul has barely been a part of the rotation. Watching a Clippers legend play his final season in the NBA was one of the few good things about this season for many fans. Does anyone, including Frank, really think that removing Paul will suddenly make this a competitive, relevant team?

The Clippers have to pivot and rebuild. It has become clear that Frank shouldn't be the person in charge. Someone who treats a franchise legend in this way can't be trusted to have the best interest of the organization.