00:00Well, in a surprising move overnight, Chris Paul posted on Instagram just after 3 a.m. Eastern time
00:05that the Clippers informed him that he's no longer on the team.
00:09He was actually sent on a plane back to L.A. from Atlanta, where the Clippers will play on Wednesday night.
00:14So let's bring in FOS reporter Colin Salau for more.
00:16So, Colin, what do we know about why Chris Paul is off the team right now?
00:20We don't know much is actually the answer there.
00:23The president of the Clippers, Lawrence Frank, reiterated that it's not Chris Paul who's to blame for the team's slow start to the season.
00:35The Clippers are 5-16 and have the second-worst record in the Western Conference.
00:41It's not Chris Paul's fault, according to Lawrence Frank.
00:44But that's pretty much all we know.
00:47What we do know is that a lot of other things are happening to a free-falling organization.
00:53They're two months removed from a Pablo Torre report about alleged salary cap circumvention surrounding Kawhi Leonard.
01:04And owner Steve Ballmer is now involved in a lawsuit from former investors in Aspiration.
01:12We know that.
01:12And we know that the team has struggled to start the season on court.
01:17And we also know that they will likely not have their draft pick, which could be a first pick in the draft.
01:25They are currently would have a top five pick or top five odds for the first pick.
01:31And that would go to the 21-1 Oklahoma City Thunder, another result of that infamous trade now that got them Paul George and ultimately Kawhi Leonard.
01:43But they gave up Shea Gilgis-Alexander.
01:46Yeah, and the Oklahoma City Thunder could have, I think, almost four first-round picks in this upcoming NBA draft.
01:51So how is this going to work with the Clippers from a salary cap perspective?
01:55How much are they going to be able to sort of pay out his contract?
01:58How is this going to sort of work with the roster?
01:59Yeah, so it's interesting.
02:02We have the salary cap experts coming out, the Bobby Marks of the world, the Keith Smiths of the world, essentially saying that, well, first of all, Chris Paul signed a one-year $3.6 million minimum contract, veteran minimum contract in July.
02:15He is not eligible to be traded until December 15.
02:18So that's still a couple of weeks from now.
02:20But the problem is that the Clippers are hard-capped, well, theoretically hard-capped to the first apron.
02:26And they can't necessarily waive him and sign another player because of that.
02:32So they're probably going to look for trade options first and foremost.
02:36But trading a 40-year-old on a minimum deal who has already said that he's going to retire at the end of the season might not be very enticing.
02:46So it's likely that they could also explore a buyout.
02:49But Keith Smith also indicated that a buyout might not be an option just because minimum contracts don't normally get bought out.
02:57So we might see this kind of either maybe one team just takes a swing and offers maybe a second-round pick for CP3.
03:04Or we see this kind of play into January when it's more likely that there's going to be a little bit more flexibility from the Clippers.
03:15They might need to wait for CP3's contract to kind of prorate into this first apron.
03:20Yeah, I'm glad you're mentioning what maybe comes next here because, as you mentioned, Chris Paul already said that this was going to be his last NBA season.
03:28Do you expect him maybe to play at all this year?
03:31Or have we basically seen the end of him in his playing career?
03:34I mean, that's a question that I think Chris Paul is probably sitting down and it's either a flight or in his house right now thinking about because I'm sure he thought that he would be ending his career with a team that he's considered the greatest player probably in their franchise's history.
03:53And that was the one bright spot they had this year was that they could retire or be in the retirement tour of CP3, one of the greatest point guards in NBA history.
04:04And now they don't have him.
04:05And I'm sure he thought that was the case when he signed with the team in July.
04:10So I think Chris Paul is probably weighing that option.
04:13And if the organization is willing to do right by him, then they'd probably talk to him about where he'd want to go.
04:22But considering what's happening right now, I don't know if that's going to be the case.
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