Chris Paul Calls Season With Thunder His Proudest
A future Hall of Fame point guard, Chris Paul is among the best NBA players of the past few decades. Through 17 seasons, he’s strived for greatness and has been a top point guard in the league the entire time.
After a stretch of seasons in Houston with the Rockets that didn’t finish as planned, Paul was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder where his career would turn around. After just one season in OKC, he was once again viewed as one of the most impactful players in the league, giving the Phoenix Suns the confidence to send a major package to the Thunder to acquire Paul.
During that one season in Oklahoma City, the veteran point guard helped the Thunder drastically exceed expectations. In what was expected to be the first year of a rebuild, he led the Thunder to the playoffs where they pushed his former team in the Rockets to seven games.
That season still sticks with Paul today. He recently spoke to The Athletic’s Anthony Slater, when he was asked to identify the proudest of his 17 NBA seasons.
While he initially struggled to pinpoint a single season, Paul eventually landed on his time in OKC.
“That year I played in Oklahoma City is something I’ll never forget,” Paul said. “That was my first year living away from my family. The relationship I got with my teammates and fans. The fans were amazing. I always hate that that season got cut short because of COVID-19. That was a big season, big summer for me, going through things I hadn’t gone through since I’d been in the league.”
Projected to finish in the lottery, Oklahoma City ended up being a legitimate playoff team in the Orlando bubble after the regular season was cut short.
During that season with the Thunder, he was instrumental in the early development of both Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort. A mentor and leader to them and many others on that roster, he’s still someone they look up to today.
During that single season in Oklahoma City, Paul made the NBA All-Star team while averaging 17.6 points, 6.7 assists and 5.0 rebounds per contest.
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