Clippers Season Hits Rock Bottom With Chris Paul Departure

The Los Angeles Clippers’ season has drifted further off course with the ousting of franchise legend Chris Paul.

Chris Paul‘s final stanza with the Los Angeles Clippers was perhaps the NBA equivalent of a three-hour tour.

Paul, 40, was essentially sent home by the Clippers in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, ending what was supposed to be a farewell tour for one of the modern legends of the game. The 12-time All-Star updated his status from Atlanta, where the Clippers are set to face the Hawks on Wednesday (4:30 p.m. PT, FanDuel Sports SoCal), while team president Lawrence Frank offered a statement obtained by Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.

“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,” Frank said. “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.”

Thus ends Paul’s Clip Show, one that gave the franchise the closest thing it could muster to consistent glory days. Following the famously vetoed deal that would’ve placed Paul with Los Angeles’ other, more yellow squad, Paul joined up with the Clippers in 2011 and kickstarted an era that has essentially culminated in Steve Ballmer’s 2014 purchase of the team, the franchise’s first conference finals showing in 2021 (four years after he originally left) and the opening of Intuit Dome, a solo Clippers arena in Inglewood. 

The red LA optimist could perhaps at least sigh in relief over the fact that the Paul drama, one where the Clipper icon was struggling to stay above 15 minutes a game, is over, but the team’s issues have only just begun.

Paul’s Departure Is Latest Clippers Storm

Whatever drama is cooking up on LA backlots has nothing on the dramatics of this Clippers season, one that has spiraled into oblivion fairly early on. It would’ve been a stretch to say that the Clippers were anyone’s Finals favorite, but taking last year’s Denver Nuggets to the brink in the opening Western round was widely viewed as a step in the right direction despite continuing a streak of four seasons without a postseason promotion.

The hullaballoo over the Kawhi Leonard endorsement kerfuffle has somewhat died down but the spotlight has found an even uglier storyline, namely a 5-16 start that has the Clippers sitting in the penultimate spot in the Western Conference. 

Chris Paul and his leadership style clashed with the Clippers, sources tell ESPN. Paul has been vocal in holding management, coaches and players accountable, which the team felt became disruptive. Specifically: Ty Lue was not on speaking terms with Paul for several weeks.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 3, 2025

To be fair to head coach Tyronn Lue and his staff, a tidal wave of injuries has played a partial part in the early demise: touted acquisition Bradley Beal lasted but six (mostly ineffective) games before a hip injury ended his campaign. Bogdan Bogdanovic and Derrick Jones Jr. have also been ailing. But the defense, which enjoyed strong steps forward under the direction of assistant and accomplished former head coach Jeff Van Gundy, has taken a step back.

The true horror, however, is off on the horizon: at this point, LA doesn’t even have the comfort of its presumably high draft pick to keep it warm company as this season threatens to fly further off the rails. That pick now resides in the palace of Oklahoma City and the deal that sent that pick (and more) away was partly headlined by the involvement of de facto Association dictator Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Making the situation all the more dire is the fact the Clippers are trapped in the restrictive first salary apron, which denies them some relative luxuries such as signing a 15th player if and when Paul finally leaves the roster.

All that and more pushes the Clippers toward a rebuild the franchise has been trying to avoid for quite a while. What happens next will set the tone for both now and later … and how LA management handles Paul could be the start of it.

Clippers Can Ensure This Is Rock Bottom…For Now

The personification of the Clippers probably wouldn’t be good for Elaine Benes, as the past decade has established it as a bad breaker-upper. In 2018, the team traded Blake Griffin, another face of this relative heyday, just over six months after he signed a nine-figure extension.

They can perhaps get something out of Paul before all is said and done but essentially shipping him off in the cover of night is hardly a good look and will likely give some pause to elite free agents looking Inglewood’s way.

What Paul does next is his business: returning to LA was meant to be a farewell tour and he could well retire despite carrying a certain form of value (of note, he was able to appear in all 82 games for San Antonio last season). The Clippers could kickstart the process by buying out his salary, which isn’t as dire a fate as it may seem considering Paul is but a $3.6 million cap hit.  

But Los Angeles can perhaps get a little bit of its goodwill back by, ironically enough, another trade. The earliest Paul could be traded is Dec. 15 based on his current contract, and that figures to be the best way for the Clippers to move forward considering they need to make moves that net something, anything, in return. Working with Paul to clean up this situation would be a good way to smooth tensions over and make the best of an uncomfortable time. 

No one’s saying it’s going to be easy over the next few years for Clipper basketball. Heck, the road ahead might make their fans long for this brutal campaign. But there’s a subtle path to making things right by doing good business with Paul and they’d be ever so wise to take it.

Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags