By John Hollinger Apr 5, 2021 Jrue Holiday signed an extension with the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday, and we’ll talk a little more about what that means below. But the other big story is how his removal from the free-agency market could change things for some other players. And the player it impacts the most might be another extension-eligible player on a winning team … Phoenix’s Chris Paul. The Point God turns 36 next month, but he’s still chugging along, deservedly making the Western Conference All-Star team while pushing the Suns into second place in the West. And in a 2021 free-agent market where Kawhi Leonard seems certain to re-sign in L.A. and Utah’s Mike Conley (another high probability re-signing) is the only other 2021 All-Star hitting free agency, it’s time to start wondering if CP3 could be this year’s Gordon Hayward. I bring up Hayward because of the similarity of their contractual situations. Paul has a player option for 2021-22 that pays him $44 million, so he’s not walking away from that for just anything. But as with Hayward a year ago (who turned down a $35 million option once four years and $120 million were on the table from Charlotte), one wonders if Paul might walk away from the option year if a longer deal for less annual money were out there. He won’t lack for suitors. Dallas, for instance, is craving a secondary ballhandler to pair next to Luka Doncic and just so happens to have about $35 million in cap room coming its way. Could the Mavs offer a three-year deal worth $110 million to lure CP3 to Texas as the third pillar of an All-Star triangle next to Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis? Or what about Miami? The Heat probably can’t get to that amount in pure cap room (they top out at $30 million if they cut everything to the bone), but they could easily hit a larger number in a sign-and-trade deal if Paul indicates that’s where he’s heading regardless. A few wilder scenarios also stand out. What about a return to New Orleans, for instance? The Pelicans could get to $30 million, cap-room wise, if they let Lonzo Ball walk and use the stretch provision on Eric Bledsoe. And the Knicks, of course, will always lurk as a team willing to overpay for a star. New York needs a point guard, is firmly in win-now mode and could offer Paul his max, $124 million over three years … while still having $20 million or so left over to bring in more help. All of which shifts the spotlight back on his current team in Phoenix. Much like Holiday, Paul is eligible to sign an extension right now. However, the league’s “over 38” rule limits the extent of any free-agent deal he can sign because Paul will turn 38 before any multi-year deal expires. That actually could help the Suns considerably. Since Paul can only sign a three-year deal in free agency but is eligible to extend his contract by three years right now, he doesn’t gain any financial advantage by waiting till the summer. Moreover, he could keep his $44 million payday for next year by opting into it and then tacking on a two-year extension. And certainly, he’s in a pretty good situation in Phoenix. The Suns have two young stars in Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton, one of the league’s top role players in Mikal Bridges and a relatively clean cap sheet going forward. The Suns also are operating from a position of strength here, because the worst-case scenario is that Paul walks and they end up with $30 million in cap room of their own, so they could wait this out. (They’d be in an even stronger position if they’d drafted Tyrese Haliburton instead of Jalen Smith, but I digress.) The smart money would be on Paul staying put, one way or the other. Nonetheless, with Holiday off the market, all eyes are now on Paul. If he doesn’t sign an extension between now and the start of free agency, he immediately becomes the top free-agent target for any win-now team in search of a point guard. Jrue Holiday's extension puts spotlight on Chris Paul; scouting Gonzaga's Jalen Suggs: Hollinger's Week That Was – The Athletic
Paul is the MVP now that harden is done for the regular season. He actually runs an offense at an all time level and unlike Steph who just runs around shooting threes. Paul has substance
Harden is still sold on trying to win playing his way of basketball, weird how he opted to join a stacked team in order to make his way to the finals easier. Only to be hit by a hamstring injury to take him out of the game for an extended leave of absence. This is also a player who has played well over 70+ games a season plus playoffs since he was traded to Houston. He wanted help and had a competent front office to get said help. Could have won the championship the next year with CP3 but decided he didn't want to compromise to win. Oh well, have fun in NY!
Years from now when I'm an old man, this trade will still make me shudder like an embarrassing moment from high school. I'm never gonna get over this. We gave up a massive haul of draft picks to slam shut a championship window. And it was clearly evident the moment it happened to a lot of us. The personification of a star that elevates his team without stats traded for the personification of empty yet flashy stats.
I've moved on from the What Ifs of the CP3/Rockets era and just appreciate Paul climbing the charts as one of the greatest point guards ever. Hell, if it weren't for Magic I would have Chris Paul ranked 1st all-time. The man elevated a very good Rockets team to championship caliber, he willed a lottery team in OKC to the playoffs and he transformed a perennial loser team to one of NBA's elite in Phoenix. Like that kind of talent/skill/magic/whatever you call it is just amazing.
That is very pathetic on behalf of the Rockets. In fairness it seems that Harden and Paul had a major personality conflict, and the Rockets were forced to trade Paul; and Tillman and Harden wanted Westbrook at all cost. It was a stupid trade then and it’s looks even stupider today. Maybe Karma for taking the Harden trade with Oklahoma for granted. The package for Harden in retrospect was ridiculous, but nobody in the league was willing to give more. This trade made Morey look beyond genius. But Tillman forcing Morey to make the Paul / Westbrook was atrocious and should signal to Tillman he’s not a basketball clairvoyant, he got played. And when it blew up, Harden realized the Rockets were screwed, he bolted by doing his sulking millionaire play; Rockets acquiesced and sent him to his buddy Durant. I guess Harden got a little Karma too, got himself hurt. Paul was and is a point guard master; and Rockets told him to accept Harden as the floor leader. Well it worked for a while but, Alphas gonna alpha each other. There can be only one Alpha!
The issue was that CP3 was barking even when his play was crap and he was running half speed, which is what pissed Harden off. Harden single handedly got us to where we were losing to the GSW that season. So Harden asked Morey if Westbrook was possible. Morey explored it and said the asking price was too much. Harden was okay with it because he trusted Morey. Unfortunately, Tilman also thought CP3 was washed and his contract was horrible so he forced Morey to make a trade for an even worse contract. Tilman again traded the second worst contract in the league for the worst contract in the league in Wall. The Karma is that OKC got payback for the original lopsided Harden trade. Harden made us relevant for a long time so I would do that those trades a million times over.
Thank you for your insight. I’m still a huge Harden fan. The reality is that Rockets have a long road ahead for relevance, but a couple of lucky breaks can accelerate that timeframe.
Harden is even a better point guard than CP3. CP3 has only been past the second round once and that was mostly because he was playing with the greatest offensive player of all time. The Big O, Thomas and Stockton all went to the finals. Stockton never missed the playoff and went the finals twice. Thomas won two championships and beat Magic and MJ. The Big O's numbers speak for themselves.
CP3 had to drag Griffins overrated ass to anything in LA. The second he was paired with another legitimately great player he won 67 games. Had the first Laker trade not been vetoed him and Kobe would have dominated. I hate that people hold his sorry ass supporting cast against him. He made lob city look far better than it actually was. Magic and Big O had Kareem and Stockton had the child molester.
They can say hi, howdy, hola or whatever greeting they want but that doesn't take away what Paul's been able to do pretty much throughout his career.
CP3 and Kobe would have clashed. Kobe's ego was waaaaay bigger than anyone that CP3 has EVER played with. The second he would have barked at Kobe, it would have been over.
Who said anything about taking away? Those guys are just better than CP3. No way is CP3 the number 1 PG of all time.
