How a Mavericks game led to Clippers sending Chris Paul home

One of the more shocking stories of the NBA season happened when the LA Clippers announced they were sending veteran point guard Chris Paul home from a two-game road trip, and it didn't seem like they'd welcome him back to the team at any point. He hasn't been cut or waived or traded yet, but it seems like that could be happening in the near future.

There are several reasons why this decision was made now, but it appears to stem from a clash between Chris Paul's leadership style and that of the coaching staff. And the most apparent example happened in a recent game between the Clippers and the Dallas Mavericks.

Dallas played the Clippers on the second night of a back-to-back last weekend, and the Mavericks came away with a 114-110 win behind 35 points from rookie Cooper Flagg and 23 points from Klay Thompson. But Chris Paul apparently told Kawhi Leonard to switch his defensive assignment, something assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy was not pleased with.

Chris Haynes, who is close with Chris Paul, recently appeared on Amazon Prime's NBA studio show, where he talked about Paul telling Kawhi to switch off of Klay Thompson, to which Van Gundy reportedly said, "You might’ve had leeway in other places to change up defensive coverages, but you don’t have that leeway here.”

Chris Paul reportedly told Kawhi to switch off Klay Thompson because Kawhi was struggling to keep up, per @ChrisBHaynes

Jeff Van Gundy then told Chris Paul: “You might’ve had leeway in other places to change up defensive coverages, but you don’t have that leeway here.”

(via… pic.twitter.com/QCwGetMPdl
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) December 6, 2025

An Unfortunate End to a Legendary Career

Chris Paul announced a few weeks ago that this would be his final season in the NBA, ending a legendary 20-year career. But this is probably not how he imagined it would happen. Maybe he gets released and can sign with the OKC Thunder so that he can finally get his ring, but he wanted to end it close to his family with the organization he helped build up.

The Clippers were a joke of an organization before Chris Paul got there, but they became a real contender there, and he's the best player in franchise history. For him to go out like this is almost disgraceful, but the Clippers have been a media mess all year long.

The Mavericks actually wanted to sign Chris Paul before the season to help their point guard situation, but he wanted to end his career in Los Angeles. They instead opted to sign D'Angelo Russell, who hasn't been much better. Paul had only played in 16 games this year, averaging 2.9 PPG and 3.3 APG, so he wouldn't have been the best option to bide time for Kyrie Irving to return from his ACL injury.

Stick with MavericksGameday for more FREE coverage of the Dallas Mavericks throughout the 2025-26 season

Follow MavericksGameday on Twitter and Austin Veazey on Twitter

More Dallas Mavericks NewsEmpty heading

Mavericks finally admit mistake in trading Luka Doncic to Lakers, fire Nico Harrison

Mark Cuban says how 'painful' it is with Luka Doncic on Lakers instead of Mavericks

Mavericks already pushing for former executive to be Nico Harrison replacement

3 Anthony Davis NBA trade ideas now that Mavericks have fired Nico Harrison