A popular trade narrative around the NBA last offseason was that the Oklahoma City Thunder would move Chris Paul before he ever formally donned a uniform.
We’ve always been skeptical of the idea but now ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that even those directly involved have their doubts. Neither OKC or Paul’s own camp believe a trade will come to fruition this season.
We wrote last month about how the early success of the teams that might plausibly interested in Paul lessens the chance that they’d actually be motivated to shake things up and pull the trigger on a trade for him.
An investment in Paul would cost teams north of $40 million annually through 2022. Given that the teams most interested in Paul’s services are contenders with sizable payrolls of their own, the options are limited.
Wojnarowski further noted in his report that while Paul is believed to stay put during this 2019-20 campaign, the circumstances change next summer when interested general managers only face two years of Paul’s contract, as opposed to three.
Paul has been a solid veteran presence on the young Thunder and, despite the uncertainty leading up to and into the season, has averaged 15.6 points and 6.3 assists per game.
