Chris Paul

Chris Paul: biography

Christopher Emmanuel Paul, an American professional basketball player, is performing for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA) since 2017. Earlier he has played for the New Orleans Hornets and the Los Angeles Clippers. Chris always improves his career stats and gets high places on the world rankings. How does he manage to do it? Let's know!

Childhood and youth

Paul's home city is Winston-Salem, North Carolina. There he was born on May 6, 1985, to Charles Edward Paul and Robin Jones. He is not the only child in the family – he has an elder brother Charles "C.J." Paul.

People often think an American entrepreneur Logan Paul to be his brother, but he is not. They are just namesakes.

Their dad was a former sportsman. He taught the boys basketball and football, took them to various youth leagues in their childhood. Being teenagers, the brothers worked at a service station owned by their grandfather Nathanial Jones in summer. They called him their best friend cause he had taught them many wise life lessons.

Chris studied in Clemmons, North Carolina at West Forsyth High School where he joined a high school sports team.

Being a freshman and a sophomore, he performed for the junior varsity team. His average results were 25 points, 5.3 assists and 4.4 steals per game – due to it, he led the West Forsyth to the state semifinals.

Next summer the player helped the Winston-Salem-based Kappa Magic conquer the National U-17 AAU title. Paul himself managed to earn tournament MVP honors. When he was a senior, he scored 61 points - it made professional experts and spectators pay attention to him. The same year, his loved grandfather died. On average, in this season Chris made 30,8 points, 5,9 rebounds, 9,5 assists, and 5 steals. He led the West Forsyth to the record 27-3 and the Class 4A Eastern Regional finals.

Having graduated from high school, Chris entered Wake Forest University where he averaged 14,8 points, 5,9 assists and 2,7 rebounds per game. He set records for three-point percentage, free throws, free throw percentage, assists, and steals in the process.

At the beginning of the next season, Wake Forest got the first place in the nation for the first time. In the final season, Chris hit NC State guard Julius Hodge in the groin and got a punishment - a one-game suspension for the ACC Tournament. The incident affected the player's reputation.

In the games of the ACC Tournament Paul scored 15,3 points, 4,5 rebounds, 6,6 assists and 2,4 steals per game on average and was named First Team Consensus All-America.

In 2005 Chris Paul decided to hire a free agent and begin a professional career.

Basketball career

New Orleans Hornets

The player applied for the NBA draft where the New Orleans Hornets selected him. Generally, they played in Oklahoma City. Paul's debut NBA season was successful: he was a leading rookie in terms of recorded points, assists, steals and double-doubles. He averaged 16.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 7.8 assists and 2.2 steals per game.

In 2007 Paul was sent to the All-Star Weekend where he scored 17 assists and 9 steals. In his second season, the player improved his results and made 17,3 points and 8,9 assists per game. However, he played only 64 rings because of an injury.

The same year, Chris succeeded to take part in the NBA All-Star. Due to him, his team was on the top of the Western Conference standings all year. Having defeated the Chicago Bulls, they got the first place on March 17. In this season the club made 56 wins. Chris Paul recorded 11,6 assists, 2,7 steals and 21,1 points per game. In his first playoff, fighting against the Dallas Mavericks, Paul made 35 points. In the next game, he set a record of 17 assists.

The Hornets won 5 games against the Mavericks because of Paul's leadership: in playoff final matches he got 24 points, 11 rebounds, and 15 assists. Unfortunately, the team was beaten by the San Antonio Spurs.

In 2008 Chris signed a $68 million contract with the team.

On January 26, 2009, the Hornets faced the Philadelphia 76ers, and the sportsman made 27 points, 10 rebounds, 15 assists, and 7 steals. On average, the player recorded 22,8 points, 5,5 rebounds, 11 assists, and 2,8 steals.

However, even with such an excellent player, the New Orleans lost the first game to the Denver Nuggets.

At the beginning of the next season, the New Orleans Hornets fired Byron Scott, their coach. Paul was astonished and displeased – he thought the team's government had to consult with him.

In February 2010, Chris tore the cartilage in his left knee and was forced to miss the All-Star Game. One month later, he underwent successful surgery. The player took part in 45 games before the injury. He averaged 18,7 points, 3,8 rebounds, 10,7 assists and 2,1 steals per game. Without Paul who was a reliable spot in the team, the Hornets missed the playoff.

In the next season, Paul got injured again: on March 6, 2011, he suffered a concussion after colliding with Cavaliers guard Ramon Sessions. Two games later, the player got back and scored 33 points and 15 assists in the match against the Sacramento Kings. The Hornets reached the playoff where they played against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in the first round. Chris performed great making 33 points, 14 assists and 4 steals in Game 1 and 27 points, 13 rebounds and 15 assists in Game 4. In the end, his average results were 22 points, 6,7 rebounds, 11,5 assists and 1,8 steals per game.

The Hornets understood that Paul planned to leave the club and started looking for the replacement.

Los Angeles Clippers

On December 8, 2011, the New Orleans tried to trade Chris to the Los Angeles Clippers. The team's owner nullified the deal disagreeing with this decision. On December 12, there was another attempt to make a deal which also broke down after the NBA added additional demands to the original terms. Two days later, the trade was committed at last. Besides Chris, the team sold two other players. Paul claimed he was planning to perform for the Clippers for at least two next seasons.

When Paul joined the team, it was rejuvenated, it began scoring the best results and earning a good reputation. Chris's average results in his debut season were 19,8 points, 9,1 assists and 2,5 steals per game.

The player took part in the 2013 All-Star Game where led the West to victory with 20 points and 15 assists. Then he earned his first Most Valuable Player Award. Chris closed the season with 16,9 points, 9,7 assists and 2,4 steals per game. With such a experienced player, the Hornets won 56 games in the season and got to the playoff where the Memphis Grizzlies defeated them. Later the team's management claimed they were not going to sign an extension with coach Vinny Del Negro. Because of the news, the gossip appeared that Paul would force the coach out. The Clippers denied any player's involvement in the coaching decision.

In 2013 Paul signed a 5-year $107 million extension with the club. In spite of his shoulder injury, he made 57 wins for the Clippers. His average results were 19,1 points, 10,7 rebounds and 2,5 steals per game. The Clippers got to the playoff and defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1. However, Oklahoma became the winner of the next 6 matches.

In the 2014-2015 season the Clippers fought all the 82 games with Paul averaging 19,1 points and 10,2 rebounds per game. In the playoff, he got a hamstring injury and missed the next rings with the Houston Rockets. As a result, the Clippers lost 7 matches.

At the beginning of the 2015-2016 season, the team's skilled members Griffin and Jordan got injured, and only Paul became responsible for the Clippers. However, he went successfully, leading them on a ten-game winning streak and averaging 19 points, 10 assists and 2 steals per game.

In Game 4 of the playoff, Chris broke his hand and was ruled out indefinitely. Without Paul and Griffin, the team lost the series in six games.

In the 2016-2017 season, the Clippers had to fight in 21 matches without Paul. Having returned, the player scored 18,1 points, 9,2 assists, and 5 rebounds in 31 minutes. The team appeared in the game with the Utah Jazz which they lost.

Houston Rockets

On June 28, 2017, Chris was sold to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Patrick Beverley, Sam Dekker, Montrezl Harrell, Darrun Hilliard, DeAndre Liggins, Lou Williams, Kyle Wiltjer. It means his skills are equal to 7 players' skills.

He played his debut game for a new team on October 17, 2017 – it was the winning match against the Golden State Warriors. Later it was revealed that the sportsman performed with a knee injury. What is done by night appears by day, and Paul had to miss the next 14 matches.

He got back on November 16 and helped the Rockets win the Phoenix Suns with the score 142-116. On December 13, he set a season record of 31 points, 11 assists and 7 rebounds in the match against the Charlotte Hornets. In the next game, he made 28 points, 8 assists, and 7 steals and gifted Houston the victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

In the match held on January 10, Paul recorded 29 shots and won the Portland Trail Blazers with the score 121-112. On January 26, he made high 38 points playing against the New Orleans Pelicans. In February the player got the 9th place on the career assists list, the 12th place on the NBA's career steals list with 1,984. The Houston closed the season with the 65-17 record.

In Game 3, the Rockets faced the Golden State Warriors. The match was nervous and spectacular. There Paul showed Curry, one of his opposers, his own shimmy. The funny video of the game became popular in the Internet.

In Game 5, the Rockets beat the Utah Jazz and got to the finals. In Game 6 of the finals, Chris injured his hamstring late. Eventually, the team left the final games.

On July 8, 2018, Chris signed a 4-year $16 million contract with the Houston Rockets. In the next season, he got a punishment of 2-match suspension for taking part in a fistfight against the Los Angeles Lakers players (LeBron James and Rajon Rondo) on October 20 and paid a fine of $491,782 for it.

On December 11, the player scored triple-double of 11 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in the winning match against the Trail Blazers. On December 20, he got a knee injury and missed 17 games.

In his first match after the recovering, the player faced the Orlando Magic. On February 23, Chris made 23 points and 17 assists helping the Rockets beat the Warriors with the score 118-112.

Paul's current net worth is $100 million. He gets a $35,654,150 salary. The player's number on the sports jersey is 3.

National team career

In 2006 Chris Paul performed for the United States national team at the FIBA World Championship in Japan and led it to the bronze medal. Also, he took part in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

At the 2012 Olympics in London, he had the starting point guard position, averaged 8.2 points, 5.1 assists, and 1.6 steals per game and helped the team win the gold medal.

Personal life

Paul married his college girlfriend, Jada Crawley, on September 10, 2011. They started dating when they were 18 years old. Both spouses are North Carolina natives.

They met at Wake Forest University. Firstly, as is usually the case, they became best friends. Later they fell in love with each other.

Their wedding took place at the Ballantyne Hotel and Lodge in Charlotte, North Carolina. The place was symbolic – for Jada, it was essential to marry where they first met.

Jada gave birth to their son Chris Jr. in May 2009. The boy has an Instagram profile called “littlechrisp”. Christopher seems to follow in his father's steps – so, recently he published a video where he played basketball in funny shoes of a huge size. Also they have a daughter born in 2012.

Now Paul, his wife and children live in Bel Air, a neighborhood in California.

Achievements

• NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award: 2013
• NBA Rookie of the Year: 2006
• NBA All-Rookie First Team: 2006
• All-ACC Freshman Team: 2004
• ACC Rookie of the Year: 2004
• All-ACC Tournament Second Team: 2004