Rumor: Chris Paul doesn’t plan on taking paycut for Rockets

Paul gets injured too much to get offered Max again. Moray can do better. Love how Paul played but there's a reason he's never been out of second round before this year and one of the biggest reasons is that he is injury prone.

 

Dude I love CP3, he’s by far worth every penny in basketball/business terms [but honestly not a great deal considering his age] but one I’m not gonna idol worship these guys or feel bad they might make a couple millions less and it’s funny to me people say they wanna win then drain the teams cap space and expect good players and to win.

That’s why guys like Lebron James and the warriors excel because they’ve all taken cuts to win.

It’s fine if he gets the max I’m not gonna hate the guy. Because we were pretty damn close to winning if he had not got hurt so we’re right there but need a little boost obviously. I mean him not taking the max can make the difference of signing another great player or two great players.

I mean the guy is 33 not 28 he’s made his cash. Some stars are done by now.

 

This should really read Paul is not planning on taking a paycut for anybody but LeBron. IOW, he won't take a paycut to get George, KD, Cuz, or any other player....except LeBron.

He'll probably clarify this after the Finals.

 

Man this is why we bubble wrap the hell out of him until the end of the season and playoffs. Notice how the spurs and warriors all play their bench a hell of a lot until closer to the end of the season. There is no need to be thinking about two years from now just next season. We shouldn't even be too worried about keeping Capella. Yes the kid is young but if DeAndre wants to come home for cheap then we take him instead. If Clint Capella needs more money than we can honestly afford... well best of luck to him. Tucker spent most of his time at Center anyways. In three years if we aren't winning a title or anything don't be surprised if we trade everything for picks to rebuild anyways.... by then harden will be 32, 33 and we'll start looking for the future. Let's just think about our 3 year window for now and start that with next season. We start by keeping paul and Harden happy.

 

Good luck in New Jersey buddy! It was a pleasure... Deuces!

 

Philly does not need a PG. It is the last position they need along with C

 

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1712109

 

Nobody aged 33+ deserves to get 40 million per season except Lebron.

So its not matter of discount. Its matter of how much money CP3 deserves to get.

 

You have absolutely no clue how NBA free agency works. The Rockets would not have the cap space to offer a max contract to anyone else if they simply let CP3 walk. With the way the NBA is set up, the Rockets can go over the cap to retain their own free agents, which means they can offer both Capela and CP3 max deals even though they don’t have that level of cap space.

Furthermore, LeBron will not consider playing in Houston if CP3 is not a Rocket. They are good friends and losing CP3 means the Rockets aren’t close enough to beating the Warriors next year. As for Paul George, the Rockets get a lot worse with that swap. They lose a ton of playmaking, and considering no one on the team outside of Harden and Gordon can create their own shot (and Gordon likely has to be traded to get PG13), it’s a horrible basketball move. That doesn’t even account for CP3’s leadership. Plus OKC isn’t trading George to a Western Conference rival. George only makes sense as a third star complementing Harden and CP3.

Finally, the Harden-only led Rockets have no shot of winning a championship in the next few years. Harden hasn’t proven he can be the primary ballhandler on a championship team yet and that kind of team stands no chance against Golden State. So if your goal is to win a lot of regular season games and flame out in the playoffs without having a realistic shot at winning the championship, then let CP3 walk. But if the Rockets want a shot at winning a title, they have to bring him back.

 

Cowturd:

Tiers of the NBA:
Golden State by a mile
LeBron or wherever he goes
Everyone else

Feeling by everyone is Houston is close. All they need is more time. Timeout. Timeout. Timeout. Story this morning is Chris Paul will not take anything but a max contract. If he's about the money, then you're not getting LeBron. If you're not getting LeBron, you're not close.

You have a dynasty, team gets close & we say all they need is a year. Portland went up against MJ, never returned. Seattle/Kemp/Payton, made him uncomfortable, never returned. Phoenix/Majerle/Barkley/Johnson, made him uncomfortable, unraveled. Penny & Shaq got to a Finals, never returned. Westbrook/Durant got to a Finals, unraveled, never returned. Everyone has Houston as a big threat to Golden State. Interesting. Chris Paul has played fewer games each year. That iso ball, Harden appears exhausted by the 2nd round when you iso for 82 games & 20 in the postseason. My entire life I've been watching this. When a team challenges a dynasty for a year, everyone says they just need a little time/tinkering. If Chris Paul is about money, you're not close. You're not close. 82, 74, 61, 58 - Chris Paul games played last 4 years. Gonna be entering his 14th year. Wants a max. Not a max player. May have had a wink-wink agreement, that's not a max. 6 years ago, I pay him the max. He is not a max player.

________________

When I say Warriors, LeBron, everyone else, too hyperbolic?

Nick Wright: Wouldn't be if you put the Rockets on that 2nd tier. We just saw the Rockets be up 3-2. We saw them go from the greatest 3pt shooting team to the worst 3pt shooting stretch in NBA history to lose to Golden State. 53-7 when Chris/James/Capela played together. Chris Paul got hurt. Don't slump the Rockets in with everyone else. Concerns about Chris Paul is fair. I think he's getting a max unless he takes slightly less to get LeBron there. Chris & LeBron could take less. The max is the backup if they don't get LeBron.​

 

Morey cannot do better. Even if the Rockets chose to renounce CP3’s cap hold, they would not have the cap space to offer a max deal to Paul George or LeBron. And neither PG13 or LeBron would consider going to the Rockets if CP13 is not on the team.

Re-signing CP3 is a risk, but one the Rockets have to take.

 

Who gives a crap what Colin Cowherd thinks? His opinions are just as worthless as Screamin’ Stephen A. Smith.

 

He makes a great point though. Plenty of really good teams don’t ever get back to even challenge

 

_holic nailed it.

You guys are fooling yourselves if you don't think Morey & CP have everything worked out here (in terms of Years, Dollars, and Talent Opportunity Cost). I mean CP and Harden already working out offseason schedules and what needs to be done. CP is staying Houston.

It is all about how the pieces fall into place.

 

keyword thinks

nothing regarding this from Cp3 or his camp or confidants

this is just pure speculation in Woj's head not exactly rumors

 

I highly doubt there is any NBA team besides Rockets wanna give 34-year-old CP3 max contract.

 

Context!

 

I can see now what CP3 is thinking about these upcoming negotiations:

 

I’ll agree on that point. I will disagree with everything else he said. If the refereeing was reasonably fair in games 6 and 7, the Rockets are playing the Cavaliers in the finals right now. So for him to say the Rockets weren’t/aren’t close to the Warriors as presently constructed is factually inaccurate. It wasn’t a fluke that the Rockets had the chance to win the series. The Rockets went 5-5 against the Warriors this year, and 5-2 in games where both Harden and CP3 played.

 

Maybe the "new math" Morey spoke of is somehow frontloading a max contract for Paul to help create more flexibility in the future?