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OKC Thunder: 35 moments in honor of Chris Paul’s 35th birthday

By Tamberlyn Richardson

JANUARY 25: Chris Paul #3 of the OKC Thunder smiles during the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves (Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images)
JANUARY 25: Chris Paul #3 of the OKC Thunder smiles during the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves (Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Chris Paul #3 of the OKC Thunder celebrates (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images) /

A Special Year:

Critics be damned, this season for CP3 has offered the purists a reminder of just how truly special CP3 is. His season averages are 17.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, 6.8 assists, and 1.6 steals. He’s shooting 36.2 percent from the perimeter, 48.9 percent from the field, and 90.0 percent from the charity stripe. As noted above he’s improved his point tally and field goal percentage with each passing month of the season.

Of those main categories and shooting splits only his assists and steals are slightly down from last season. Given the Thunder move the ball more and often feature the trio of point guards it’s also natural they would dip slightly.

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The steals overall may be down on a per-game basis but through 64 games he has 98 total steals and is averaging 1.53 per game. That puts him on pace to collect 125 steals should the season return to play out the final 18 games on the itinerary. That not only bests last season’s total of 114 steals but also puts him on pace to register the most steals since his 2015-16 season.

Why his overall statistics are improved could be due to several different factors. The most obvious is system based but the plant-based diet and team chemistry surely also contribute to the bigger picture.

Ultimately, he’s happy and it shows and that could be the most telling factor of all.

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