The NBA is a ruthless business. Team owners and general managers don’t care about players settling in a city or fans loving or hating a player. They just move them as if they were playing a huge game of checkers to try and improve their team’s roster.
Players get traded away by the dozen every year. Sometimes, more than once in a season. So they just get used to that and try to make the most of every chance they have to make an impact wherever they get to play.
That’s why when Jimmy Fallon asked Chris Paul about the rumors of the New York Knicks and Phoenix Suns interested in trading for him, he was just unfazed and said that he’s looking ahead to next season:
“Man, I’m going into Year 16, right? So I’ve heard just about every rumor that you can possibly hear,” Paul said. “You learn to control what you can control. I’m training, getting ready for the season. If something happens, it will. If not, you know, I love being in Oklahoma with our team. We actually got a new coach yesterday. The league is always constantly changing,” he concluded.
Chris Paul is a lock to be traded next season as the Oklahoma City Thunder look to rebuild and stack young players and draft assets, and there’s definitely going to be a lot of interest in making a run at him.
Paul is one of the greatest point guards of all time and even at 35 years old and with his history of injuries, he’s made every single team he’s been on better. He’s got the potential to lead almost every team to the playoffs, so there’s no wonder why he’ll have plenty of suitors waiting in line to pay him north of $40 million a year for his services.
