San Antonio Spurs guard Chris Paul is near the end of his 20th professional season. Next month, he will celebrate his 40th birthday. But the future Hall of Famer doesn’t sound ready for retirement just yet.
“I’m going to keep playing, I think,” Paul told Andscape’s Marc Spears.
Paul is the third-oldest player in the NBA. LeBron James turned 40 in December, and P.J. Tucker, who recently signed with the New York Knicks, is one day older than Paul. This season, Paul has started all 76 games that the Spurs have played. If he plays in all of their six remaining games, it will be the second time in his career that he has played all 82. (He also did it in 2014-15 as a member of the Los Angeles Clippers.)
Paul told Andscape that his friends who have retired encourage him to “play as long as you possibly can.” He appreciates that, but said he loves his family “more than I like to play,” so he takes stock of his situation every year. Even though he said he thinks he’ll keep going, he was not definitive about it.
“At the end of every season, I evaluate everything,” Paul told Andscape. “Evaluate playing. Evaluate how my body feels. But the more years that go by, it’s more conversations with my family, with my kids. They have a lot of say so. They got a lot of input.”
Paul noted that he’s “been in the league half of my life” but said he “still can’t even imagine at some point being done.” In addition to his role on the court, in San Antonio he has “basically been coaching along with playing, very honestly,” coach Gregg Popovich said in October, per The Athletic’s Fred Katz.
“My love for the game is even higher now,” Paul told Andscape. “My son hoops. My daughter hoops. And I think the most challenging thing now is I love giving back to teammates, the team, giving them the little nuances that I know. I want to give some of that knowledge to my kids, too. I’m just figuring it out, seeing what that looks like.”
Paul has not been able to play for Popovich as much as he anticipated, as the coach had a stroke in September and has been away from the team since. He has not been able to play with Victor Wembanyama as much as he anticipated, either, as the Spurs’ 21-year-old franchise has been sidelined since the All-Star break after they discovered he had deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder. This has been “extremely tough,” Paul said, but he has put it in perspective.
“The things that happened with Pop and Vic are bigger than the game,” Paul said. “These ain’t like you roll your ankle, break a bone or something like that.”
He added: “I’ve played against Pop for a number of years. It’s a huge reason why I came here. And so was Vic — two of the main reasons why I came here. But getting to know him the way that I have trumps any other thing that’s going on. I’m grateful for even the opportunity for the time that we did get to play together.”
The question now is whether or not that time is over. Even if Paul decides he’s not done, that doesn’t necessarily mean he will return to the Spurs, who signed him to a one-year, $10.5 million contract last offseason. San Antonio traded for guard De’Aaron Fox at the deadline, and while Paul shared the backcourt with him (before Fox’s season-ending finger surgery), rookie Stephon Castle appears more than ready for a full-time starting role.
Paul came off the bench for most of his one season with the Golden State Warriors. Would he do that with the Spurs next year? Will there be another situation that makes more sense for him and his family? Much to consider.
