OKC Thunder: Chris Paul contract and season grades
There was a question whether Chris Paul would ever don an OKC Thunder jersey but he did and excelled. Let’s review his season.
After Paul George was traded to the LA Clippers, OKC Thunder general manager Sam Presti traded Russell Westbrook to the Houston Rockets for Chris Paul, plus four first-round draft picks. This was meant to make the Rockets one of the teams to beat.
For the OKC Thunder, it meant speculation. Pundits believed the franchise had next to no chance of making the playoffs. Did this mean that Sam Presti was going to try and flip Paul for even more assets? Why would the veteran want to languish at the bottom of the standings at this point in his career?
Well, it is safe to say that Paul and the OKC Thunder silenced those critics with the season they had. They made the playoffs and were one of the best teams in the NBA from Thanksgiving onwards. A big reason for this was the play and mentorship of CP3
Chris Paul rebound season with the OKC Thunder
It seems strange to say that the season just gone was CP3 re-announcing himself to the NBA. This future Hall of Fame did have two relatively painful seasons with the Houston Rockets but his averages did not suffer much.
Vintage Point God shot.
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 1, 2020
Chris Paul getting it done in the clutch. pic.twitter.com/W16eviCtl7
His numbers in those two years were 17.1 points, 8.0 assists, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.8 steals in 31.9 minutes. His shooting splits were 44.1 percent from the floor, 36.9 from deep, and 89.2 percent from the free-throw line.
Last season with the OKC Thunder Paul averaged 17.6 points, 6.7 assists, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.6 steals in 31.5 minutes. His shooting splits were 48.9 percent from the floor, 36.5 percent from deep, and 90.7 from the line. There is very little difference there apart from his shooting percentages being better last season.
So why was Paul lauded this year? Well, the answer is pretty simple, when he had the ball in his hand the Thunder never looked like losing in the fourth quarter. He was able to impact the game in a way that numbers never really tell the story. He could not do that in Houston as he did not enough of the ball.