Another last chance for Chris Paul

A few more months and the 18th NBA season of Christopher Emmanuel Paul, aka CP3, will have reached the end of the line. And she who knows if then, looking back, the guard of the Phoenix Suns he will finally have found the longed-for inner peace. At 38, after a career in which he established himself among the best point guards of the modern era and in which he has secured a place in the Hall of Famerisks ending up with a void that is difficult to fill, in what most defines the legacy of a player of his caliber: the victory of a title.

The crowd, to be fair, seemed to have thrown in the towel with his ring chase. A disappointment to playoffs after another, one injury after another, and above all in light of his physiological physical decline, which this season had contributed to removing the Suns from the main contenders for the title. After trade deadlineHowever, the geopolitics of the league has changed not a little, and the Arizona franchise is the one that has taken advantage of it the most, winning in the race for Kevin Durant and instantly projecting itself into the league’s elite. Will this, in the end, be the turning point in Chris Paul’s career?

Regrets, and more regrets

Paul’s title ambitions, and the growing pressures derived from them, began with his move to Los Angeles in 2011. To the Clippers, “the other team in LA”, who experienced their Renaissance with CP3, who went down in history as Lob City: Six years in a row ai playoffs, after an eternity in the league slums. Not enough though, also thanks to some injuries, to allow Paul to compete at the highest level.

We will have to wait until 2018 to see him with one contender, the Houston Rockets. Alongside an Mvp-format James Harden, CP3 leads the only credible antagonist of Golden State, the superteam par excellence, fresh from three Finals and in the midst of the Durant-era. Paul and Harden’s big break, however, was shattered when Paul pulled out with a muscle injury in Game 5 against the Warriors. The biggest regret of his life, probably.

In 2020, now 35 years old, Chris places his (last) hopes in the hands of the Suns. And they are well placed, because already in its first season the team established itself among the best in the league, thanks to the explosion of Booker and the growth of young players. Paul has the usual ailments in the spring, but the Lakers first and then the Clippers are no better, on the contrary, and it is the Suns who snatch the pass for the NBA Finals. The first for CP3, where he will find Antetokounmpo’s Bucks.

History, however, has an appointment with the Greek, Mvp of the series. He wins Milwaukee in six games. In Phoenix the curtain falls, which will become pitch dark the following year, with the early elimination at the hands of the Mavs. It seems like a point of no return, and Paul seems inexorably destined to end up among Hall of Fame guards without a ring, like Stockton, Iverson and Nash before him. And instead…

The big break

And here we are today, the new glow that illuminates the Valley of the Sun, the talent of Durant. Alongside Paul, Booker and Ayton, with Monty Williams on the bench, a decent one supporting cast and a reassuring depth: on paper, with the imprimatur of Las Vegas, Phoenix is ​​now the team to beat in the west.

The most unexpected opportunity for CP3, but definitely the most concrete. Net of the sacrifices of Bridges and Johnson, in fact, now Phoenix has in Durant and Booker the couple of scorer most fearsome in the entire NBA. And next to them, Paul will have an ideal role for his characteristics and above all for his registry: that of director, lightened by far from production responsibilities.

If the regular season ended now, the Suns (quarter) would face Golden State in a dream first round… for those who enjoy the show from outside, at least. One step at a time, however: there are still 17 games to go, the standings are very short and the Suns have a particularly demanding calendar. Their race for the title, however, has already begun. With that ring on his head that would put an end to the torments of Chris Paul, one of the greatest little ones ever.