Chris Paul is one of the greatest point guards in the history of the league, and he was deservedly included in the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. Paul may not have a ring on his resume, but he is a surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer who has led the league in assists as well as steals on numerous occasions, and he has taken all the teams he has been on to another level.
Despite all of his accomplishments, even Paul can be a bit starstruck when he comes face-to-face with some of the legendary point guards of the past, as he did when they all came together for the celebration. When he was asked during an interview with Complex about what it was like to be named to the team, Paul stated that he was grateful and that it was a special experience to be around the greats of the game.
via Complex:
Q. You were named to the NBA 75 team this past season. Can you describe what that feeling was like, did you have a chance before being named to the team to really look at your career in totality, or was this the first time you really stepped back and looked at everything you had accomplished?
A. For all these years I have just kept my head down and done the work, and I can honestly say that being named to the NBA 75 team, the day we did that huge photoshoot, I’ll never forget it. I met a number of players that I had never met for the first time. Being in the same setting, all of us, at the same time, was the craziest feeling. Standing there and taking a picture with John Stockton and Isiah Thomas and Magic Johnson, all of these guys that I have watched since I was a kid. It’s something that will live forever, I’m grateful.
Paul grew up watching these all-time greats put on a show, and he has carried the torch as the last of the great pure point guards in the NBA. It would be great if Chris could win a title before he walks away from the game, but this past season might have been his best chance, and he blew it.
The Suns seemed destined to make it back to the Finals in 2022 but were shockingly eliminated by the Mavericks in the Conference Semifinals, and that blowout loss in Game 7 is going to be hard to come back from. For his part, though, Paul was confident he and the Suns would be strong contenders once again next season, and for his sake, we hope that is the case.
