Chris Paul is set to be a free agent this summer, but it’s unlikely that he’ll be putting in for a change of address.
While rumors have circulated about the San Antonio Spurs pursuing the veteran point guard, The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski doesn’t see Paul playing in the Lone Star State next season.
“I don’t know where that came from,” Wojnarowski said on CBS Sports Radio, as transcribed by Kyle Boone. “I’ve spent a lot of time around the Spurs this spring. They would have to just tear up that entire payroll. It’s almost unlike anything the Spurs would’ve done or would do to even have a chance at him. I mean, they’d have to really gut the roster.
“And to do that for a 30-plus-year-old point guard, who has a couple great years left, there’s no question — I think there’s more pressure on the Clippers to have to re-sign him than for the Spurs to turn their whole franchise over to make a run at him.”
Paul is expected to opt out of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. The Clippers can offer him a five-year, $200 million deal, which is significantly more than any other team can give the All-Star point guard. And that, according to Wojnarowski, makes the Clippers the undisputed favorites to keep their floor general.
“Listen, Chris Paul, financially, the difference with him staying in L.A. and to get paid, I’d have a hard time imagining him leaving there,” Wojnarowski said. “There’s so much money for him to be made and at that Los Angeles market, just in terms of his marketing endorsements, I still think they’re a pretty overwhelming favorite to re-sign him.”
It’s hard not to fantasize about Paul in the Spurs’ system alongside Kawhi Leonard, but that appears to be only that, a fantasy.
Thumbnail photo via Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA TODAY Sports Images
