Golden State Warriors’ newly-acquired star Chris Paul is set to participate in his 19th NBA season, but with Father Time not on his side, NBA writer Mark Medina believes that the ultimate challenge will be whether he can remain healthy.
Golden State Warriors news – Chris Paul
Thirty-eight-year-old Chris Paul has achieved as much as there is to in the NBA from an individual standpoint. With 12x All-Star selections, 4x All-NBA First Team, 5x time assist leader, 6x steals leader and a 7x NBA All-Defensive First Team honors to his name, all that is missing is the elusive NBA championship and a ring around his finger.
However, after being traded to the Golden State Warriors to team up with four-time championship winners Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, led by head-coach Steve Kerr, there appears to be no better situation for the point-god to find himself in as he looks to compete once again.
Paul has already publicly received praise from his new teammates, including Curry, as they gear up to take to the floor alongside him and not against him for the very first time.
Speaking on an appearance on the Dubs Talk Podcast hosted by Monte Poole, the greatest three-point shooter of all time believes that CP3’s experience will bring more maturity to an already-established NBA side: “I like where we are in the sense of the pieces fitting and having a lot of different looks from a rotation standpoint. We’re a little bit more mature now in the sense of experience, and I think that’s the pattern in the NBA of what affects winning.”
The Warriors will be hoping that his leadership and experience both on and off-the-court can be the missing piece to a championship roster that the Warriors lacked last season.
What are Mark Medina’s views on how Chris Paul will fare with the Warriors?
Medina believes that while Paul’s chemistry with the rest of the Warriors roster is likely to work out, he thinks the ultimate challenge is how healthy he will stay, likening his potential role to that of Andre Iguodala’s with the team over the last few years.
Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, the journalist said: “All these things play out in real time, and there might be some peaks and valleys. Who knows – if I had to put money on this, it’s going to work out from a chemistry standpoint, for the most part.”
“I think the challenge more is just going to be what the health is going to look like. The Warriors have pretty good training staff, and Chris Paul takes care of his body well. I think that they have better roster depth than the Suns had, so that puts less pressure on Chris to deliver. But Father Time is undefeated.”
“But I think it is a fair question how these dynamics are going to work out, because you’re talking about a superstar, hall-of-fame player that’s going to eventually be expected to have a pedestrian role, but the Warriors can point to Chris Paul about the fact that Andre Iguodala did that for them.”
“Although he’s a much different kind of player, I think that there are a lot of similarities as far as he was a number one guy on the team, he was an all-star player. They have great, incredible IQ. He has had the locker room equity to still lead the team, still call out veterans and Chris Paul can still do that because of his body of work.”
How does Chris Paul fit into the Warriors’ offense?
Undoubtedly, Chris Paul is still competing at an elite-level despite some notable drop off in recent seasons, but how he adapts his game to match his physical capabilities as his body ages may prove crucial in the success of the Warriors next season.
As per StatMuse, Paul boasts career averages of 17.9 points, 9.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds and 2.1 steals, shooting 47.2% from the field and 36.9% from three-point range in over 1200 NBA games.
Despite never really coming close to an NBA championship in his career apart from his run with the Phoenix Suns in 2021 where they made the NBA Finals before falling short to the Milwaukee Bucks, Paul has taken his game to the next level when playing in the playoffs. His career playoff averages consist of 20.0 points, 8.3 assists, 4.9 rebounds and 1.9 steals, shooting an improved 48.4% from the field and 37.3% from three.
With natural range shooters in Curry and Thompson on the roster, the Warriors don’t lack scoring and would instead be relying on CP3’s play making and ability to unlock the scoring from those in the front court, as well as his veteran leadership and experience to help guide them to victory.
After injuries marring his appearances in the previous few post-season runs, the Warriors will be hoping that CP3 can stay healthy by the time the playoffs roll around again, and he gets his chance to showcase all of his years of experience in a championship-caliber offense. It is expected that he will take on a reduced role, likely coming off the bench, in order to address this.
Regardless of if he is a starter, or instead is put in charge of leading the Warriors’ second-unit, his health may prove instrumental in whether the Warriors can legitimately compete for a title next season or not.
From CP3’s perspective, this may ultimately be the best, and his last, chance to ensure that his illustrious career doesn’t end without an NBA trophy on his resume.