Paul had a bounceback campaign at age 34 last season with the Thunder. Assuming Father Time doesn't catch up with Paul, look for him to maintain baseline numbers of at least 15 points, seven assists and four rebounds. Payne's usage may result in a slight downtick across the board for Paul, as his minutes per game will likely hover around 30. In 2020-21, Cameron Payne proved to be a reliable backup, capable of sparking the offense and handling the rock for chunks of minutes. However, look for Monty Williams to be potentially resting Paul (who turns 36) throughout the season to ensure he's healthy heading into the postseason. Paul underwent wrist surgery this offseason but is expected to be back for training camp, and we can assume he will bring similar awe-inspiring ball handling and floor leadership this year. Paul was clearly the floor general and, while his points per game came down slightly from his career average, he was able to elevate the games of the young players around him and lead the Suns to their first Finals appearance in 28 years. Last season, Paul showed unusual hardiness, playing his most games (70 regular season plus 20 playoff games) since 2015-16 and rewarding fantasy owners with 8.9 assists per game (third in the NBA) and a league-best 4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Each year, Paul's charity foundation awards a scholarship to students in Forsyth County, North Carolina to attend Wake Forest.Ī four-year, $120 million contract means Chris Paul will likely be ending his career as a Phoenix Sun and hitching his ride to the emerging team in an attempt to win that elusive championship ring. 4 overall of the 2005 NBA Draft by New Orleans. As a sophomore, Paul was named a First Team Consensus All-American as well as a member of ESPN's Academic All-America Team. Led by Paul, the Demon Deacons made it to the third round of the NCAA tournament. Additionally, College Insider, The Sporting News, Basketball Times and Dick Vitale all named Paul the National Freshman of the Year. During the 2003-04 season, Paul started in all 31 games as a freshman and was named ACC Rookie of the Year. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram Paul played two seasons for Wake Forest University before heading to the NBA. In 2016, Paul was named ESPN's Sports Humanitarian of the Year. In the summer of 2013, Paul was elected President of the NBA Players Association. Paul's foundation annually awards students of Forsyth County in North Carolina a scholarship to attend Wake Forest University. Years later, in 2005, the Chris Paul Family Foundation established the CP3 Foundation in honor of his late grandfather to assist the city of Winston-Salem. Jones was tragically killed during Paul's senior season of high school. Growing up, Chris and Charles worked at a gas station owned by their grandfather, Nathanial Jones. He's the son of Robin and Charles Paul and has an older brother (also named Charles). Paul was born in 1985 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. As long as he can hold off Father Time for another year, Paul is an early-round option who should have the opportunity to provide consistent fantasy production again during the 2022-23 season. However, Paul proved last season that he can handle 30-plus minutes on a nightly basis. He may see a few more rest days during his age-37 season, especially considering that he's played at least 65 games each of the last three years. Paul's absence likely alleviated some workload concerns down the stretch, and it was encouraging to see the veteran beat his return timetable of 6-to-8 weeks. He started the first 58 games of the season before missing just under a month due to a thumb injury. Paul's efficiency from long distance dropped last year, as he shot just 31.7 percent from three-point range - his lowest rate since his rookie season. His 10.8 assists per game marked his highest total since the 2008-09 season and ranked first in the NBA last year, but he averaged a career-low 14.7 points while seeing a slight decrease on the boards with 4.4 rebounds in 32.9 minutes per game. Although Paul was 36 years old during the 2021-22 regular season, he didn't show many signs of slowing down and reiterated after the season that he has no plans to retire.
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