No more playing! Paul announces retirement time! 21-year career is coming to an end

In the early morning of November 23, NBA reporter Shams reported that Clippers guard Chris Paul announced that he would officially retire after this season, ending his 21-year career. Today, the Clippers played against the Hornets, and Paul returned to his hometown of North Carolina: "What a wonderful journey, there is still a lot of reluctance, and I am grateful for this last journey."

Paul was born on May 6, 1985. He is 1.83 meters tall and was the No. 4 pick in the first round of 2005. In his 21-year NBA career, Paul was selected to the All-Stars 12 times, to the regular season All-NBA Team 11 times, to the All-Defensive Team 9 times, to lead the NBA in steals 6 times, to lead the NBA in assists 5 times, and to Rookie of the Year once.

Paul ranks second in NBA history in both assists and steals, second only to Stockton. Paul has played for seven teams in his career: Clippers (7 seasons), Hornets (6 seasons), Suns (3 seasons), Rockets (2 seasons), Thunder (1 season), Warriors (1 season), and Spurs (1 season).

The year Paul entered the NBA, the coach happened to be in high school. At that time, I often saw news about this rookie in magazines. Paul won all the Western Conference Rookie of the Month awards. In his rookie season, Paul averaged 16.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 7.8 assists, 2.2 steals, and 2.4 turnovers per game, with three shooting percentages: 43%, 28.2%, and 84.7%.

In the Best Rookie selection, Paul was only one vote away from winning the full vote. Later, there were many news and jokes surrounding Paul, such as "58", "basketball reasons", "Western Conference Finals floor", "cannon punch warning"... In the first round of the 2009 playoffs in G4, the Hornets lost 63-121 to the Nuggets at home. The score difference of 58 points in a single game broke the historical record of the playoffs!

In July this year, Paul publicly stated on the show that the 2025-26 season will be his last dance in the NBA and he will officially retire in the summer of 2026. After joining the Clippers, Paul changed his mind again: "I still want to continue playing, and I haven't decided when to retire." Now that the regular season has just begun, why did Paul decide to retire?

Fans who have watched the Clippers games this season should be mentally prepared: Paul really doesn't have much gas. So far this season, Paul has played 10 games for the Clippers, all of them as a substitute. He averaged 13.7 minutes per game, scoring only 2.5 points, 1.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1 steal, and 1.1 turnovers. His three shooting percentages were: 27.3%, 27.3%, and 100%.

For comparison, Paul played 82 regular season games with the Spurs last season, all of which were starts. He averaged 28 minutes per game, scoring 8.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.6 turnovers. His three shooting percentages were: 42.7%, 37.7%, and 92.4%. In just one year, Paul's data dropped off a cliff, and it was really time to say goodbye.

Paul played a total of 1,364 regular season games in his career, including 1,314 starts. Averaged 16.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 9.2 assists and 2 steals per game, with three shooting percentages: 46.9%, 36.9%, 87.1%. Played in 149 playoff games, averaging 20 points, 4.9 rebounds, 8.3 assists and 1.9 steals per game, with three shooting percentages: 48.4%, 37.3%, 85.4%.

NBA historical point guard rankings, where do you think Paul ranks?