Chris Paul is a natural fit for Clippers as

The Clippers had a need for a playmaker and ballhandler, and they had been in a position to discover that “natural fit” with Chris Paul.

Paul spent six seasons with the Clippers, a time when he had loads of success main them to relevancy and now he’s back to play his twenty first season, which could be his final.

Paul, 40, a 12-time All-Star, agreed to a contract that can pay him $3.6 million next season.

“Chris was a natural fit,” Lawrence Frank, the Clippers’ president of basketball operations, stated over Zoom on Tuesday. “His roots with the organization are deep and meaningful. He obviously played a tremendous role in the upward trajectory of the franchise. He wanted to return to the Clippers and we wanted it the same, as long as it made sense with our current roster — and it does.”

Paul has spent his complete 20-year profession as a starter in the NBA, taking part in in all 82 video games final season with the San Antonio Spurs. He averaged 8.8 factors, 3.6 rebounds and 7.4 assists in 28 minutes per recreation while taking pictures 42.7% from the sphere.

Over the course of taking part in in 1,354 regular-season video games, Paul has began in 1,314.

Frank stated Paul will “slot into our roster as a reserve point guard,” a position the 2 of them mentioned.

“So, we don’t take that lightly when you’re taking on a different role,” Frank stated. “And so there were a lot of conversations. You put everything on the table and get everyone comfortable with it. But the fact that Chris wanted to come back, wanted to be at home, wanted to be with the Clippers, we obviously know what his skill set is, but we also wanted to make sure the role made perfect sense from both people’s perspective.

“And so I thought it was a very, very thorough process in terms of how we went about it, just to make sure that everyone knows exactly what we’re signing up for and we feel really, really good about it.”

Playing time also could possibly be tough at the guard spot with Paul now on board.

James Harden, who averaged 35.3 minutes per recreation final season, and Bradley Beal are the doubtless starters in the backcourt for Clippers coach Tyronn Lue. Then there is Kris Dunn, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Paul who could possibly be in the rotation.

“We know that ballhandling was a little bit of an issue for us last year and we wanted to get … Chris was the best guy for the job as long as everyone understood exactly what the role was and we can all embrace it,” Frank stated. “And so, we’ve been very, very honest and direct and we feel great that Chris is back.”

Frank stated Harden performed a huge position in the staff buying Beal. Frank was requested if Harden talked to Paul about returning to the Clippers. Harden and Paul performed two seasons collectively in Houston, from 2017 to 2019, and there have been stories that their relationship was strained.

Frank stated, “They did.” when requested if Harden and Paul had talked.

“And when talking to James, talking to Kawhi [Leonard] — and we talked about what the role would be — both guys said CP would be the best guy for this role,” Frank stated.

Paul and Beal have both worn No. 3 their complete careers. But Frank stated Beal will let Paul put on No. 3 and determine later what his new quantity can be.

“So, it’s awesome that Brad made such a great gesture like that,” Frank stated. “And so Chris will be No. 3.”

During his six seasons with the Clippers, from 2011 until 2017, Paul helped the franchise attain new heights. He joined Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan to kind “Lob City.”

But it sounds as if this can be Paul’s final season in the NBA and it’ll be with the Clippers and it’ll enable him to play in entrance of his household that lives in the Los Angeles space.

“Well, I think there’s the nostalgic aspect,” Frank stated. “But I think the No. 1 question that we always say, is how can he help impact winning? … And yeah, look, there’s the heartstrings part of it, of someone who was such a significant part of the Clippers’ rise to be able to bring it back. Whether this is his last year or not, that’s obviously Chris’ story in terms of what he feels and what he wants. But I think No. 1 is his ability to help impact winning.”