Los Angeles Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue refuted reports that he and 12-time All-Star point guard Chris Paul didn’t talk in the weeks before Paul was fired from the team on Dec. 3, and that Lue refused to meet with Paul.
“We’re talking,” Lue said Tuesday.
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“I mean, he plays. How is he going to play if I don’t talk to him? There was a period where we said he wasn’t going to play, he was going to be out of the rotation. It was tough on him because he’s a competitor and what the game means to him and what he brings to the table every day. But after that, it was nothing.”
Paul is 40 years old and this is his 21st season in the NBA. The 2025-26 season is expected to be his last comeback in the league. He missed five games last month due to coaching decisions, but the most recent was on Dec. 1. In 16 games with the Clippers, he averaged 14.3 minutes per game, scoring a career-low 2.9 points and 3.3 assists.
The Clippers, now 6-18, sent him home on a road trip in Atlanta in early December. Paul announced the news on Instagram. Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank later confirmed in a statement that Paul was no longer with the team, noting that Paul was not responsible for the team’s “poor performance” and that he was a “legendary Clipper.”
Tyronn Lue coached Chris Paul early in his career and served as an assistant coach with the “Lob City” Clippers during the 2013-14 season. (Photo by John W. McDonald/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
(John W. MacDonald, Getty Images)
Hours later last Wednesday, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Paul’s leadership style, specifically his willingness to hold management, coaches and players accountable, was “conflicting” with the Clippers and that Paul hadn’t spoken to Lue “in weeks.”
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According to Clippers reporter Justin Russo, when Frank met with reporters later that day, he told reporters that he met with Paul for three hours before Paul was fired and said that Paul “has a very good leadership style,” but that some roster changes simply didn’t work.
“It’s not working right now,” Frank said last Wednesday, according to Russo.
Lue said Tuesday that he was not involved in the final conversations because of Paul’s imminent departure.
“I wasn’t there,” he said.
A reporter asked why Paul’s situation was irreconcilable and mentioned that the Clippers have sent players home and then brought them back many times.
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“You’ll have to ask Lawrence,” Lou said.
Lue said he had no problem with Paul, who also served as an assistant coach with the “Lob City” Clippers in 2013-14 earlier in his career, noting “that’s my guy” while calling him a friend and mentioning a 40-minute phone conversation he had with Paul.
“You don’t want to see that happen to anyone, no matter what the situation is.”
Clippers players, especially stars Kawhi Leonard and James Harden, were shocked by Paul’s firing. Lue acknowledged Tuesday that his team wasn’t happy with that.
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“This is their teammate. This is the guy they battle with every day and he’s a part of who we are,” Lue said. “So it’s tough. The organization just made the decision to do this, but we’ve got to keep moving forward. We’ve got to try and win some games.”
Lue said he considers Paul a Hall of Famer and one of the top five or six point guards in league history. He believes the legacy of the Wake Forest product will still live on in the league.
Paul has played for seven teams, and although the NBA championship has disappeared from his resume, he still has a series of achievements, including being selected to the NBA All-NBA Team 11 times and the NBA All-Defensive Team 9 times. In addition, Paul led the league with five assists and six steals.
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He began his career with the New Orleans Hornets. They selected him with the fourth overall pick in the 2005 draft. He won NBA Rookie of the Year in 2006, beginning his six seasons with the Hornets until the 2010-11 season.
Since then, he has played for the Los Angeles Clippers (2011-17), Houston Rockets (2017-19), Oklahoma City Thunder (2019-20), Phoenix Suns (2020-23), Golden State Warriors (2023-24), Spurs (2024-25), and now the Clippers.
In an interview with People magazine published Tuesday, Paul said he’s “at peace with everything.”
“I went home. My daughter had a tryout yesterday. My nephew had a basketball game. My son has a game on the 12th,” Paul said, via People .
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He also noted: “More than anything, I’m excited to be around and have the opportunity to play a small role in what happens next.”
