Latest / Bleacher Report / Chris Paul's Untold Details on Skills Challenge DQ with Wemby + Bronny, SGA vs. Jokic NBA MVP Debate
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: I am so happy to be here. I get to
- 0:02Speaker 1: interview with somebody that I have had the pleasure of
- 0:04Speaker 1: interviewing time and time again. But when you are an
- 0:07Speaker 1: NBA legend, you can never get enough. A man who
- 0:10Speaker 1: needs no introduction, the one and only Chris Paul. We've
- 0:21Speaker 1: got a lively crowd, so mixed emotions, Chris. Thank you
- 0:26Speaker 1: all so very much for being here. Chris, it was
- 0:30Speaker 1: so exciting going through this interview because you know, I
- 0:34Speaker 1: got to chat with you when you were an Okay, see,
- 0:38Speaker 1: I had chatted with you when you were a Phoenix Sun.
- 0:40Speaker 1: We have seen many times, but you have just done
- 0:44Speaker 1: so much in your basketball career. So first off, there's
- 0:46Speaker 1: a major congrats and order. He is now second all
- 0:50Speaker 1: time and steals. Please give it up for that. Thank
- 0:54Speaker 1: you well well deserved. So I want to talk about
- 0:57Speaker 1: some lists. He's top three all time and deals and
- 1:00Speaker 1: assists in both of those lists. Go John Stockton, Chris Paul,
- 1:05Speaker 1: Jason Kidd. What story does that tell.
- 1:10Speaker 2: Means? We all played till we were old.
- 1:13Speaker 3: You know it's crazy because I actually was teammates with
- 1:18Speaker 3: Ja Kidd in two thousand and eight the Olympic team,
- 1:21Speaker 3: and to know John Stockton to know J Kidd actually
- 1:25Speaker 3: took a picture with those guys at the seventy five
- 1:27Speaker 3: year anniversary thing an All Star.
- 1:31Speaker 2: But it's crazy.
- 1:31Speaker 3: I remember being a rookie going to play in Utah
- 1:34Speaker 3: and the Utah is two big banners up there of
- 1:38Speaker 3: John Stockton. Think it's like fifteen thousand something assist in
- 1:42Speaker 3: thirty two hundred steals, and so that was a goal
- 1:45Speaker 3: of mine to like try to break that recor not happening.
- 1:49Speaker 2: Definitely not happening.
- 1:50Speaker 1: Be a long long time, but never say never.
- 1:53Speaker 2: I ain't doing it. That's how.
- 1:56Speaker 1: When I was looking at all your accomplishments though also
- 1:58Speaker 1: seven times NBA All Defensive First Team, how much pride
- 2:03Speaker 1: do you take in that, you know we don't see
- 2:05Speaker 1: as much defense these days.
- 2:07Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a lot of pride.
- 2:09Speaker 3: I have kids now, fifteen year old son, twelve year
- 2:11Speaker 3: old daughter, and I'm always talking to them about defense.
- 2:16Speaker 3: My teammates, I'm always talking to them about defense. I
- 2:19Speaker 3: got a lot of younger teammates now that I ask
- 2:22Speaker 3: them about defense and whatnot. I'll be like you, I'll
- 2:27Speaker 3: ask them if they think I've ever made the All
- 2:29Speaker 3: Defensive teams and they'd be like, no, I'll be like,
- 2:32Speaker 3: it's actually nine nine times. But it's just something that
- 2:35Speaker 3: I actually hate about the game now that it gets overlooked. Right,
- 2:39Speaker 3: everything is about the analytics and all that instead of
- 2:42Speaker 3: like taking pride in defense and defending. And I've always
- 2:46Speaker 3: had respect for guys who've done that, guys like Tony Allen,
- 2:52Speaker 3: guy like TJ McConnell who every night picks up full court.
- 2:56Speaker 3: It's really hard to play defense night in the night out.
- 3:00Speaker 1: So when we are seeing maybe bad defense, is that
- 3:04Speaker 1: about low effort? Is it a mentality thing? What is
- 3:08Speaker 1: it that has shifted in terms of how defense has evolved?
- 3:11Speaker 1: I love he sat up, he's ready for this.
- 3:12Speaker 2: No, because that's a really good question.
- 3:14Speaker 3: I think one of the things is sort of copycat league, right,
- 3:19Speaker 3: Like a lot.
- 3:19Speaker 2: Of times.
- 3:21Speaker 3: Defensive schemes, well, a lot of teams switching things like
- 3:24Speaker 3: that now. But in order to defend, it means you
- 3:27Speaker 3: got to really invest time, right, You got to invest time.
- 3:30Speaker 3: So that means you got to watch film, you gotta
- 3:33Speaker 3: watch clips. Because everyone in the league has tendencies, all
- 3:36Speaker 3: of us. We play eighty two games a year, games,
- 3:38Speaker 3: night in, night out, So everybody like we're all really
- 3:42Speaker 3: good players, but they have the analytics that say this
- 3:45Speaker 3: guy goes to his right sixty five percent of the time.
- 3:48Speaker 3: So in order to play defense, you you've got to
- 3:51Speaker 3: be selfless. You know, you got to realize that you've
- 3:54Speaker 3: got to really put the time and effort and.
- 3:57Speaker 1: Watch well because you can learn the tendency is not
- 4:00Speaker 1: only from obviously real gameplay. That's also why I know
- 4:03Speaker 1: you take watching basketball. So seriously, tell me some of
- 4:07Speaker 1: your favorite tendencies that you've picked up from some guys.
- 4:11Speaker 3: My favorite tendencies, what a euro step is one of them.
- 4:15Speaker 3: Like the eurostep. While it's a great move, people don't
- 4:18Speaker 3: realize the ball is in the same spot every single time.
- 4:22Speaker 3: So when a god does a euro step, I don't
- 4:24Speaker 3: really pay attention to their feet. I'm watching the basketball,
- 4:28Speaker 3: which is why I'll steal it or I mean, I
- 4:30Speaker 3: got five hand surgeries to show for all the steals
- 4:33Speaker 3: that I've gotten.
- 4:33Speaker 2: But the tendencies.
- 4:35Speaker 3: And I think another thing too, is anybody in here
- 4:39Speaker 3: have kids. Everybody got kids, and so a lot of
- 4:45Speaker 3: a lot of kids now they have trainers, Like they
- 4:48Speaker 3: all have a trainer, a personal trainer, and they work
- 4:51Speaker 3: out for hour a day. And I try to tell
- 4:54Speaker 3: my kids all the time that you got to do
- 4:56Speaker 3: something that somebody else isn't doing.
- 4:58Speaker 2: You know, what's your story gonna look like?
- 5:00Speaker 3: To get up early, because if you're doing the same
- 5:02Speaker 3: thing at all your homies and all your friends doing,
- 5:04Speaker 3: everybody just gonna stay at the same the same ability level.
- 5:09Speaker 3: And then the other thing too, is you got to
- 5:11Speaker 3: play like one on one, right, We used to play
- 5:14Speaker 3: one on one every day.
- 5:16Speaker 1: That would like you guys to bring that back.
- 5:17Speaker 2: Actually, yeah, but I mean it was.
- 5:21Speaker 3: It's interesting because of the amount of games and it
- 5:23Speaker 3: cut down on back to backs and whatnot. But we
- 5:25Speaker 3: used to practice a lot more in the NBA, and
- 5:28Speaker 3: then the one on one battles before and after practice
- 5:31Speaker 3: is where you learn a lot because that's where you compete.
- 5:35Speaker 2: You know.
- 5:35Speaker 3: It's it's a lot of junk talking, it's a lot
- 5:38Speaker 3: of you know, guys get into it a little bit.
- 5:41Speaker 3: But that's that competitive edge that I think everyone should have.
- 5:45Speaker 1: Where do you think that went? Not the competitive edge?
- 5:48Speaker 1: The one on once.
- 5:51Speaker 3: I got a lot of beliefs. It's it's tough now
- 5:53Speaker 3: because of the way the schedule is set up. You know,
- 5:56Speaker 3: actually being a part of that committee or whatnot figuring out,
- 6:00Speaker 3: you know, because when you cut down on back to backs,
- 6:02Speaker 3: what happens is you actually make it to where now
- 6:05Speaker 3: we play almost like Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday. It used
- 6:09Speaker 3: to be two or three days between games more often,
- 6:11Speaker 3: so you had an opportunity to practice.
- 6:14Speaker 2: But now, like for our team.
- 6:16Speaker 3: We don't have two days between games for the rest
- 6:18Speaker 3: of the season. So on none game days, it's hard
- 6:21Speaker 3: to practice because you don't want to be on your feet,
- 6:24Speaker 3: running and jumping every single day. So that's what happened
- 6:29Speaker 3: to the league is is not really any time to practice.
- 6:32Speaker 1: So there was this really funny clip that went around.
- 6:37Speaker 1: You were guarding Trey Murphy and you're on him and
- 6:40Speaker 1: you just hear Trey Murphy go no, Chris, stop, Chris, no, Chris.
- 6:44Speaker 1: Have you seen this clip?
- 6:45Speaker 2: I saw it?
- 6:45Speaker 1: Okay, you also heard it. Yeah, But that is always
- 6:49Speaker 1: such a reminder to me of all the talking that
- 6:51Speaker 1: is going on out there when these guys are playing.
- 6:54Speaker 1: So I'm curious the funniest or best conversation that you've
- 6:57Speaker 1: had with the guy while you're defending him, Because I
- 7:00Speaker 1: love that clip.
- 7:01Speaker 2: It happens all the time.
- 7:03Speaker 3: First of all, when I've seen that, I thought it
- 7:04Speaker 3: was weird that trade was miked up for a regular game.
- 7:08Speaker 2: Was it was a non TV game, So what are
- 7:10Speaker 2: you doing? Right?
- 7:11Speaker 3: First and foremost, H yeah, that's weird. Second of all,
- 7:16Speaker 3: he didn't show the clip where a few players later,
- 7:18Speaker 3: I actually stole it from me, you know what I mean? So, uh,
- 7:21Speaker 3: I don't It's always a lot of conversations during during
- 7:24Speaker 3: the game, right, and I think it's healthy. We actually, uh,
- 7:28Speaker 3: the competition committee we sort of talked about it.
- 7:32Speaker 2: I don't even know if I can say, but anyway, you.
- 7:35Speaker 1: Wouldn't say anything here, And I.
- 7:36Speaker 3: Know, I think it's really interesting because us as players,
- 7:40Speaker 3: we sort of, uh, you pay attention to the rules
- 7:42Speaker 3: of the game, right, So Taylor, when you see a
- 7:44Speaker 3: guy get dunked on and you see a guy like
- 7:46Speaker 3: flex on him when you watch a game.
- 7:48Speaker 2: What you think that's a tech? Right?
- 7:50Speaker 3: So we talked about it on one of our committees
- 7:53Speaker 3: and was like, the fans actually like that.
- 7:55Speaker 2: You want to see the competitiveness.
- 7:57Speaker 3: You know, players react like that and say tech because
- 8:00Speaker 3: that's what it's always been. And so I think the
- 8:03Speaker 3: league we had that call maybe like two months ago.
- 8:06Speaker 2: So now I think as long as it ain't nothing too.
- 8:08Speaker 3: Crazy, I think as you guys watch games, you'll see
- 8:11Speaker 3: guys be able to show emotion like it's an emotional game,
- 8:15Speaker 3: you know, like like with the referees and all this stuff,
- 8:18Speaker 3: like this is our livelihood, this is how we compete.
- 8:21Speaker 3: So I think when people be like, man, what is
- 8:22Speaker 3: he mad about? What the hell would I be mad?
- 8:25Speaker 3: You know, like I care, like I want to win.
- 8:27Speaker 3: And so if you look at most of the commercials
- 8:29Speaker 3: for the league, it's all what dunks And that's not
- 8:33Speaker 3: me dunks, it's all dunks and things like that where
- 8:36Speaker 3: you show emotions. So yeah, we just wanted to try
- 8:39Speaker 3: to hopefully make sure that that emotion can be in
- 8:42Speaker 3: the game. Just like when two guys get to arguing,
- 8:44Speaker 3: like we always say, officials, y'all do not have to
- 8:46Speaker 3: get them double text, just just just.
- 8:49Speaker 2: Walk up to them and be like, y'all, good, y'all.
- 8:52Speaker 3: If it goes a little too crazy, go ahead, because
- 8:54Speaker 3: but you know, that's a part of it.
- 8:57Speaker 2: It's a part of it.
- 8:58Speaker 1: It's also in a weird way how you get fans too,
- 9:01Speaker 1: because when fans are watching a player and they see
- 9:04Speaker 1: that emotion, they see that intensity, they see something that
- 9:07Speaker 1: they relate to. Maybe they can't play basketball, but they
- 9:10Speaker 1: know what it's like to want to win. They know
- 9:12Speaker 1: what it's like to want to come on top, to
- 9:14Speaker 1: feel so overwhelmed by something that it has to show.
- 9:17Speaker 1: So it is strange that sometimes that's harnessed.
- 9:20Speaker 2: Yeah, and you want to.
- 9:21Speaker 3: See guys care, right, especially in the regular season games
- 9:24Speaker 3: because everybody just talks about the playoffs. In the regular
- 9:27Speaker 3: season game, if a guy gets dunked on and a
- 9:29Speaker 3: guy likes screens and yells in his face, then he
- 9:31Speaker 3: probably gonna go down to the other end and want
- 9:33Speaker 3: to redeem himself.
- 9:34Speaker 2: Yep. So now the competition continues.
- 9:37Speaker 3: To raise and raise and raise, and hopefully it'll be
- 9:40Speaker 3: better for the fans instead of calling text and now
- 9:42Speaker 3: everybody got to be on pins and needles and if
- 9:44Speaker 3: they get another one, they ejected.
- 9:46Speaker 1: Well, speaking of raising competition, every single team that Chris
- 9:50Speaker 1: Ball has been on, all seven, they won more games
- 9:54Speaker 1: the year Chris Paul joined than they did the year
- 9:56Speaker 1: that he wasn't on the team. This is probably a
- 9:58Speaker 1: stat that you've heard time time again. A lot of
- 10:01Speaker 1: us in the media call this the Chris Paul effect,
- 10:04Speaker 1: what do you call it?
- 10:07Speaker 3: Uh, just call a lot of moving, a lot of
- 10:11Speaker 3: a lot of packing your bags and moving, you know,
- 10:15Speaker 3: And just I don't know, it's competition, right, even though
- 10:20Speaker 3: I may not be on a team, you know, when
- 10:23Speaker 3: you get traded or whatnot. I've watched so many guys
- 10:27Speaker 3: in this league get traded and say, I ain't showing up,
- 10:30Speaker 3: I ain't going I ain't doing this, I ain't doing that,
- 10:33Speaker 3: And a lot of guys' career have.
- 10:35Speaker 2: Been cut short because of that, right.
- 10:37Speaker 3: And I love to play basketball more than anything, Like,
- 10:40Speaker 3: I love to play, I love to compete, and so
- 10:43Speaker 3: every time I go to a team, it's in the beginning.
- 10:46Speaker 2: It's about team building. Right.
- 10:48Speaker 3: Just because they said y'all were sorry, don't mean we
- 10:50Speaker 3: gotta be you know what I mean. So I think
- 10:53Speaker 3: that's the thing that's always motivated me from team to team.
- 10:56Speaker 1: And I know, of course, you are a team first guy,
- 10:59Speaker 1: and you all always sort of differ in these moments.
- 11:02Speaker 1: But do you feel like there is a direct link
- 11:05Speaker 1: to the team's success and you being there?
- 11:12Speaker 2: I I mean, I hope.
- 11:14Speaker 3: So I'll tell you this, Yeah, I mean, I'll tell
- 11:17Speaker 3: you straight up any guy who tells you when they
- 11:19Speaker 3: leave a team you know, and and that team does better,
- 11:23Speaker 3: they are not.
- 11:24Speaker 2: Happy, you know what I mean, They're not.
- 11:26Speaker 3: That's like if you left your job or whatnot, and
- 11:28Speaker 3: now your job just took off and then they went
- 11:31Speaker 3: was a billion dollar company, You're gonna be mad as hell.
- 11:33Speaker 2: You're gonna be mad so.
- 11:37Speaker 3: So far for the for the most part, changing teams
- 11:42Speaker 3: here and there or whatnot, teams or players at times
- 11:48Speaker 3: they miss playing with you because of what you may
- 11:52Speaker 3: be brought out in them as far as like, uh,
- 11:55Speaker 3: competitive edge or whatever it is.
- 11:57Speaker 2: It's it's been pretty cool.
- 11:59Speaker 1: Well, speaking of teams that you've been on. Back in
- 12:01Speaker 1: I want to say twenty twenty, I took a visit
- 12:03Speaker 1: to Oklahoma City and I interviewed Chris and Shae went
- 12:08Speaker 1: along with you. Were at the bowling alley. I beat Shaye,
- 12:11Speaker 1: Chris beat me. But even then, in that moment, did
- 12:15Speaker 1: you see that Shae was going to become what he
- 12:18Speaker 1: has become today.
- 12:21Speaker 3: I don't know if I knew that, but I I
- 12:26Speaker 3: hoped and just knowing him in the way that he
- 12:29Speaker 3: just loved the hoop. Like I say this all the
- 12:31Speaker 3: time over my career. The guys that I've gotten the
- 12:33Speaker 3: closest to as far as teammates, friends or whatever, are
- 12:36Speaker 3: the guys who just love basketball.
- 12:39Speaker 2: My wedding Gennaro Pargo, who's.
- 12:41Speaker 3: An assistant coach for the Indiana Pacers, we just got
- 12:45Speaker 3: closed because he loves basketball, and even my basketball camp
- 12:48Speaker 3: during the summer now.
- 12:49Speaker 2: Narrow, he worked camp and he hooped with us.
- 12:52Speaker 3: And so Shaye was like that, Shae, every time we
- 12:56Speaker 3: be on the road or whatnot, he knew I was
- 12:58Speaker 3: watching games. Even at this point, we still talk once
- 13:01Speaker 3: or twice a week about the games that's going on
- 13:03Speaker 3: and just yeah, and now it's it's trouble for everybody
- 13:09Speaker 3: for a while, No, for sure, Because so this is
- 13:12Speaker 3: my question.
- 13:13Speaker 1: When I look at the Thunder, obviously I think that
- 13:15Speaker 1: there are may be eleven games ahead a hold of
- 13:19Speaker 1: that number one spot. Are they as good as that
- 13:22Speaker 1: gap signifies? Like, is the gap between the Thunder and
- 13:26Speaker 1: everyone else in the West as vast as the record shows?
- 13:29Speaker 3: Well, I think they're a really good team. They're a
- 13:31Speaker 3: really good team. They're well coached. Mark was assistant coach
- 13:35Speaker 3: for US that year I played in Okay. See what
- 13:40Speaker 3: I noticed when I watch Okay see play and it
- 13:42Speaker 3: has a lot to do with Shae and him being.
- 13:45Speaker 2: The type of leader that he is.
- 13:46Speaker 3: Is that everybody, even though Shaye could possibly be should
- 13:51Speaker 3: be the MVP this year?
- 13:53Speaker 1: Who you say should yeah over Jokic.
- 13:57Speaker 2: Listen Shae, Shae just.
- 14:03Speaker 3: They found a way to make everyone equal, right, everyone
- 14:06Speaker 3: on their team is equal, even though.
- 14:09Speaker 2: He is who he is.
- 14:10Speaker 3: Jalen Williams was an All Star Shade their team. You know,
- 14:15Speaker 3: Mark gives them the freedom to just come out and play.
- 14:18Speaker 3: You know what I mean to see lou Dort, who
- 14:20Speaker 3: was a rookie that year, I played to see the
- 14:22Speaker 3: confidence that he plays with. So when you watch them
- 14:24Speaker 3: play and share the ball and kick the ball, it's
- 14:27Speaker 3: just looks like a really fun way to play. And
- 14:30Speaker 3: I tell you all the time, you can tell a
- 14:31Speaker 3: lot about a team with the things that they do pregame,
- 14:36Speaker 3: during the game, postgame, even the little thing where their
- 14:39Speaker 3: whole team stay there for the postgame thing. Now, the
- 14:43Speaker 3: thing that you always worry about with any team is
- 14:45Speaker 3: when they hit adversity, right, and I think them experiencing
- 14:49Speaker 3: what they did last year obviously was adversity. But yeah,
- 14:53Speaker 3: they got a really good team.
- 14:55Speaker 1: How do you define MVP?
- 14:58Speaker 3: How do I define it?
- 15:01Speaker 1: Like? Do you feel like it's best player, best team?
- 15:04Speaker 1: Do you think it is just you know, the guy
- 15:06Speaker 1: that is doing the most with less? Like how do you?
- 15:09Speaker 2: Yeah?
- 15:09Speaker 3: I think it varies sometimes from from year to year,
- 15:11Speaker 3: depends on who you're asking and what's what's going on,
- 15:14Speaker 3: you know what I mean? But uh, you obviously gotta
- 15:18Speaker 3: be the best player on a good team, right on
- 15:21Speaker 3: a good team, and obviously figure out what your team
- 15:26Speaker 3: would do without you. You know, would your team be
- 15:28Speaker 3: in the situation at dam without you?
- 15:30Speaker 2: Yeah?
- 15:31Speaker 3: You?
- 15:31Speaker 1: Because of course you have played so long, you have
- 15:34Speaker 1: played with a lot of stars and a lot of talent.
- 15:37Speaker 1: Right now you're playing with everyone's favorite player, Victor Rumbinyama.
- 15:42Speaker 1: This is what I always tell people about Winby. But
- 15:45Speaker 1: the very first time I met Wemby, the first questions
- 15:48Speaker 1: he asked me were what I was reading, and then
- 15:50Speaker 1: he saw my aura ring and asked me about my
- 15:53Speaker 1: sleeping patterns, which I have talked to a lot of
- 15:57Speaker 1: NBA players. The first conversations never go that way. And
- 16:01Speaker 1: I feel like one of the things that separates when
- 16:04Speaker 1: be outside of his other worldliness is just his approach
- 16:06Speaker 1: to life and who he is as an individual. How
- 16:10Speaker 1: did those feed one another.
- 16:12Speaker 3: Yeah, it's interesting because, like you said, I've had an
- 16:15Speaker 3: opportunity to play with a number of greats over my career,
- 16:20Speaker 3: and I told Vic a few times that I'm glad
- 16:24Speaker 3: that I got a chance to be his teammate, right
- 16:26Speaker 3: because I played against him last year his rookie year.
- 16:29Speaker 3: We actually exchanged jerseys in Golden State. But in watching
- 16:33Speaker 3: him play, I would have had some type of perception
- 16:37Speaker 3: in my head of who he was or what was
- 16:39Speaker 3: he like. First of all, I messed with Vic all
- 16:41Speaker 3: the time because he almost more American than French.
- 16:46Speaker 2: He is.
- 16:47Speaker 3: He's really smart, like really intelligent. Before every game we do.
- 16:54Speaker 2: Trivia trivia.
- 16:56Speaker 3: One of the guys, Brendan that works on our train
- 17:00Speaker 3: and staff, like with ninety minutes on the clock, he
- 17:02Speaker 3: puts up trivia every game. And it could be Disney movies,
- 17:06Speaker 3: it could be all this different type stuff, it could
- 17:08Speaker 3: be all this stuff.
- 17:09Speaker 2: And Vict know everything.
- 17:11Speaker 3: He really all the stuff that I feel like he's
- 17:13Speaker 3: not supposed to know.
- 17:14Speaker 2: But that's what makes him unique.
- 17:16Speaker 3: Right in the league that has gotten extremely young and
- 17:20Speaker 3: everyone's on their phones and on social media, Vic come
- 17:24Speaker 3: in the training room with his book, you know what
- 17:26Speaker 3: I mean. And he's a really really good basketball player,
- 17:31Speaker 3: but a better person. I think people say that all
- 17:33Speaker 3: the time and just sort of throw it out there,
- 17:35Speaker 3: but I mean that about him.
- 17:37Speaker 1: Because I think that with him, it's the difference between
- 17:40Speaker 1: soaking up knowledge, which to what he's doing, versus like
- 17:42Speaker 1: soaking up information. And I think some of what the
- 17:46Speaker 1: younger guys are doing is more information and maybe a
- 17:49Speaker 1: little less knowledge, and Victor seems to have mastered that.
- 17:52Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 17:53Speaker 3: Man, he asked a lot of questions like myself right,
- 17:56Speaker 3: and we have some of the best talks about things.
- 18:01Speaker 3: And it's interesting because he's coming into the league. I'm
- 18:04Speaker 3: on my way out, so it's just an interesting perspective.
- 18:07Speaker 3: And it's really dope that we ask each other all
- 18:11Speaker 3: these different type questions. Because I have kids, obviously, that's
- 18:14Speaker 3: getting that's growing up. So it's cool that he teaches
- 18:18Speaker 3: me things as well as I try to teach him.
- 18:20Speaker 1: What is it like for you to say that out loud,
- 18:22Speaker 1: I'm on my way out?
- 18:25Speaker 2: Yeah, it's cool.
- 18:26Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, it's tough to a certain extent, but you know,
- 18:33Speaker 3: I don't know when but I do know. I miss
- 18:36Speaker 3: my family. This is my twentieth season. I'm so blessed
- 18:40Speaker 3: and grateful that I've been able to do it. My
- 18:42Speaker 3: kids are fifteen and twelve, and they don't really know
- 18:45Speaker 3: life like with me consistently right, they might.
- 18:49Speaker 2: Not love it, but I still you.
- 18:52Speaker 3: Know, I always say I would have never made it
- 18:54Speaker 3: to the NBA without my parents, especially without my dad,
- 18:57Speaker 3: like in the backyard time, my brother's right hand behind
- 19:01Speaker 3: our back making us dribble with our left hand and
- 19:03Speaker 3: all these things.
- 19:04Speaker 2: And so not being able to be in the stands for.
- 19:08Speaker 3: My kids ever, right, like yeah, really ever, except for
- 19:13Speaker 3: the summer.
- 19:14Speaker 2: Hits a little bit different as you get a little older.
- 19:16Speaker 1: Yeah, so and correct me if I'm wrong. But through
- 19:19Speaker 1: our different interviews, I feel like the topic of retirement
- 19:22Speaker 1: has come up and your thoughts on it have been
- 19:26Speaker 1: a little different than they are right now. When did
- 19:28Speaker 1: that change and what has that just general evolution been.
- 19:32Speaker 3: Yeah, because when you asked me when I played in Phoenix.
- 19:36Speaker 1: And Phoenix, Yeah, Phoeni we talked about a little no KC.
- 19:39Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah. But it's interesting because it's funny too
- 19:42Speaker 3: because I'm very self motivated and I actually remember a
- 19:48Speaker 3: former teammate of mine was on ESPN some years ago
- 19:53Speaker 3: when I got traded to.
- 19:54Speaker 2: OKC, and he was like, oh, he's done.
- 19:56Speaker 3: Now, this is a former teammate of mine is like
- 19:59Speaker 3: he needed to retire, he need to retire. And I
- 20:01Speaker 3: just be like, okay, you know, okay, I've been grateful
- 20:08Speaker 3: to continue to play, to continue to play. And I
- 20:10Speaker 3: don't know, I think as time goes on, you know,
- 20:13Speaker 3: your kids are younger, doing this, doing that, and now
- 20:17Speaker 3: my son's about to get his license.
- 20:19Speaker 1: Oh wow, big time.
- 20:21Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 20:21Speaker 3: Yeah, that right there really makes you start to put
- 20:24Speaker 3: things into perspective.
- 20:26Speaker 1: So obviously, you know, there was all of the talk
- 20:30Speaker 1: and opinions about when we got to see Bronnie coming
- 20:33Speaker 1: to the league, and I felt really thankful I got
- 20:35Speaker 1: to do the season opener, so I was there when
- 20:37Speaker 1: Lebron and Bronnie hit the court for the first time.
- 20:40Speaker 1: And in that postgame interview, one of the main things
- 20:42Speaker 1: Lebron talked about was just how this game takes you
- 20:45Speaker 1: away from your family. So when you see them out there,
- 20:49Speaker 1: is that really what you think, Like, how much of
- 20:51Speaker 1: a gift it is to be able to go to
- 20:52Speaker 1: work with your son?
- 20:55Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll never forget it because I've known Bronnie since
- 20:59Speaker 3: he was born. I was at the hospital when Bryce
- 21:01Speaker 3: was born, you know, so oh.
- 21:03Speaker 1: During the playoffs, yeah yeah, and then you went to
- 21:06Speaker 1: the game that serious after that.
- 21:07Speaker 3: So it definitely hits a little different watching you know, Bronnie.
- 21:14Speaker 3: I think the thing that I've been most proud of,
- 21:15Speaker 3: and obviously it seemed like a topic of conversation all
- 21:19Speaker 3: the time.
- 21:20Speaker 2: I think for me, what I'm most.
- 21:21Speaker 3: Proud of to see that with Bronnie and and bron
- 21:25Speaker 3: is to know how much work Bronnie put in, right,
- 21:29Speaker 3: I think that's what people miss and all that storytelling
- 21:32Speaker 3: is he's been faced with all these different things. Not
- 21:35Speaker 3: saying this right or wrong, but he's been faced with
- 21:37Speaker 3: all these different things at this age. Oh he ain't
- 21:40Speaker 3: that good at this age, and Bronnie just keep his
- 21:42Speaker 3: head down and he do the work.
- 21:44Speaker 2: He do the work, man. So I'm I'm I'm happy
- 21:47Speaker 2: for that and that.
- 21:50Speaker 3: I think anybody who hates on that situation and got
- 21:53Speaker 3: a chance to see that is basically just envious and jealous,
- 21:56Speaker 3: you know, because to see a guy out there playing
- 22:01Speaker 3: with his son, that's that's why.
- 22:03Speaker 1: But also to watch History like it's really First off,
- 22:06Speaker 1: it's crazy with Lebron just in a vacuum is doing.
- 22:10Speaker 1: It's crazy that he's, you know that age doing what
- 22:12Speaker 1: he's doing. So I love it. Gotta chat with you
- 22:15Speaker 1: about all Star walk me through the skills challenge from
- 22:18Speaker 1: your point of view, it.
- 22:24Speaker 2: Was an idea or whatnot.
- 22:26Speaker 3: It didn't it didn't work out.
- 22:29Speaker 2: But they did. They did say that it was okay
- 22:32Speaker 2: to do that.
- 22:33Speaker 1: M So they say it's okay. They cleared it before
- 22:37Speaker 1: you went out there, and so you were very confused
- 22:41Speaker 1: when they said you're disqualified because you got clearance prior.
- 22:45Speaker 3: Right, But that was that was neither here nor there,
- 22:48Speaker 3: but it was what it was. It was a wild situation.
- 22:53Speaker 1: Well, I love that post game Winby is saying how
- 22:56Speaker 1: that was his idea? Is that true?
- 23:00Speaker 2: I ain't see his interview, but.
- 23:01Speaker 1: He did say that. I would never say he did
- 23:03Speaker 1: it if he didn't.
- 23:04Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, but it Vic is really really smart, like
- 23:09Speaker 3: really really smart. And I don't think I did it
- 23:13Speaker 3: as well as he did it, you know what I
- 23:15Speaker 3: mean as far as throwing the ball, but it was
- 23:17Speaker 3: I got a bunch of texts from from people like
- 23:19Speaker 3: really really like high end business and stuff. And they
- 23:22Speaker 3: was like, well, I'm just glad you tried something different,
- 23:25Speaker 3: you know what I mean.
- 23:26Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, it's always funny because in a moment like that,
- 23:29Speaker 1: everyone's like, oh, such a Chris Paul move, and you're
- 23:33Speaker 1: saying it wasn't even you.
- 23:35Speaker 2: It wasn't and that's what what? Uh? Who was we
- 23:38Speaker 2: just talking about? Trey Murphy?
- 23:40Speaker 3: Yeah, he came up to me right after that, and
- 23:43Speaker 3: I couldn't tell you joking or not. He was like, dang,
- 23:45Speaker 3: you're gonna cheating the thing. And I looked at him like,
- 23:46Speaker 3: if you don't shut.
- 23:47Speaker 2: Up, you know you like it.
- 23:52Speaker 1: Relax. It's just it's so funny how these things go.
- 23:55Speaker 1: Everyone has like their narrative and they stick it. But
- 23:58Speaker 1: I do have a question, and I I'm asking this
- 24:00Speaker 1: more so because I had a front row seated at
- 24:03Speaker 1: the bubble, so I could hear when y'all were talking.
- 24:05Speaker 1: I could hear everyone talking to the refs. I remember
- 24:08Speaker 1: a time you turned to ref you said that isn't
- 24:10Speaker 1: in the rule book, and you said it to a ref.
- 24:12Speaker 1: How memorized do you have the rule book?
- 24:15Speaker 2: I probably didn't say that.
- 24:16Speaker 1: I don't know if I but like you were like joking,
- 24:19Speaker 1: you weren't being serious.
- 24:20Speaker 3: Right in the bubble. I don't know what it would
- 24:25Speaker 3: have been. But I've been on the competition committee for
- 24:27Speaker 3: seventeen years. Yeah, right, So the competition committee is two
- 24:31Speaker 3: hours of going over the rules.
- 24:34Speaker 2: Of the game.
- 24:34Speaker 3: Like as a fan, you probably you probably don't remember
- 24:36Speaker 3: when you missed the shot and got the rebound. It
- 24:39Speaker 3: was twenty four seconds, right, and now it's fourteen seconds.
- 24:42Speaker 3: There's a whole committee that comes up with the different
- 24:45Speaker 3: rules of the game, which I've been on for seventeen years.
- 24:48Speaker 3: So yeah, I didn't invested the time in it. So
- 24:52Speaker 3: I think I know what's going on.
- 24:53Speaker 1: I mean, this is the kind of player i'd want
- 24:54Speaker 1: to be. Like, I'm like, listen, I know everything going on,
- 24:58Speaker 1: and I think it is so cool. Outside of all
- 25:00Speaker 1: of the amazing things you brought to the game on
- 25:03Speaker 1: the court, you have been so pivotal in so many
- 25:05Speaker 1: off the court moments. Are you equally as proud of
- 25:09Speaker 1: both or more?
- 25:10Speaker 3: Yeah, it's crazy because a lot of times I forget
- 25:14Speaker 3: a lot of the things that I've been a part of.
- 25:19Speaker 2: And had ownership change a few times.
- 25:22Speaker 3: Back when I played in New Orleans, the owner of
- 25:26Speaker 3: the team lost.
- 25:28Speaker 2: The team to the NBA.
- 25:29Speaker 3: I E I got traded to the Lakers and they
- 25:33Speaker 3: nixed that trade.
- 25:36Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 25:38Speaker 3: Yeah, it was Today's the five year anniversary for the day.
- 25:46Speaker 2: The game shut down at ok.
- 25:47Speaker 1: See, yep, it is it is. And then you had
- 25:51Speaker 1: to get to work.
- 25:52Speaker 3: I had to get to work to come up with
- 25:54Speaker 3: the bubble that was. That is probably one of the
- 25:57Speaker 3: most interesting things that I'll never forget get right is
- 26:02Speaker 3: everyone was home, obviously during the pandemic, and I was
- 26:04Speaker 3: on zooms every day every single day. We were actually
- 26:07Speaker 3: trying to hire a new executive director and trying to
- 26:12Speaker 3: come up with the bubble, trying to figure out what
- 26:14Speaker 3: city it was going to be in first, trying to
- 26:17Speaker 3: see if we could get the players on the same page.
- 26:19Speaker 3: Then we tried to figure out what teams we were
- 26:21Speaker 3: going to take to the bubble. He ain't got enough
- 26:23Speaker 3: time for me to tell you all about that.
- 26:27Speaker 1: You just are generally just a natural born leader, and
- 26:32Speaker 1: I'm curious where you want that outlet to be when
- 26:36Speaker 1: you aren't in the basketball court. Do you want to coach?
- 26:38Speaker 1: Do you want to be a politician?
- 26:40Speaker 2: Like?
- 26:40Speaker 1: What do you what do you want?
- 26:42Speaker 3: Definitely don't want to be a politician. Definitely don't want
- 26:45Speaker 3: to be a politician. I have an AU basketball program,
- 26:50Speaker 3: so grassroots program where I think we got twelve kids
- 26:53Speaker 3: that play in the NBA now, so I coach those
- 26:57Speaker 3: kids during the summer. I don't think o't coach in
- 27:01Speaker 3: the NBA no time soon, because I've been going for
- 27:04Speaker 3: my family for all this time.
- 27:05Speaker 2: I don't want to be gone doing that.
- 27:07Speaker 3: And it's hard to coach NBA guys because we don't listen,
- 27:11Speaker 3: you know. Yeah, But I definitely want.
- 27:14Speaker 2: To continue to grow in business. Right I have my
- 27:17Speaker 2: snack brand. There's other.
- 27:21Speaker 3: Teams that I'm interested in because I just love the
- 27:25Speaker 3: team aspect and building right in building. So I definitely
- 27:28Speaker 3: want to continue to connect people and see what else
- 27:32Speaker 3: is out there.
- 27:32Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, since I've known you, you have been
- 27:35Speaker 1: incredibly passionate about many things, but two that stick out
- 27:38Speaker 1: are healthy eating and giving back to your community. I
- 27:41Speaker 1: know that you have a really important new venture in
- 27:43Speaker 1: good eating that combines both. Tell me about that.
- 27:46Speaker 3: Yeah, So, man, maybe twenty nineteen, twenty twenty is when
- 27:53Speaker 3: I went plant based. And I'm born and raised in
- 27:56Speaker 3: the South, so I've seen a lot of people in
- 27:58Speaker 3: my family with diabetes and all these different things, and
- 28:01Speaker 3: as I got older, there's no way I would be
- 28:03Speaker 3: playing this long in the NBA if not for paying
- 28:07Speaker 3: attention to what I put into my body, right, And
- 28:10Speaker 3: so a lot of people don't understand your gut is
- 28:12Speaker 3: your second brain. So in doing that, I realized that
- 28:16Speaker 3: people snack all the time, like people snack, and especially
- 28:19Speaker 3: my kids, they snack all the time. And so I
- 28:21Speaker 3: started a snack line called Good Eating, And it's basically
- 28:27Speaker 3: so that people have healthier options, right, because with anything,
- 28:30Speaker 3: you got a budget, right, So I'm not telling everybody
- 28:32Speaker 3: to go eat plants and vegetables all day, right, but
- 28:35Speaker 3: at the end of the day, when you're snacking, you
- 28:37Speaker 3: should have a healthy option, something that tastes good too.
- 28:41Speaker 1: I love that. And so you really do feel completely
- 28:45Speaker 1: different just off of how you changed your diet.
- 28:48Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Like I.
- 28:50Speaker 3: Know people talk about Tom Brady a lot, obviously, Braun
- 28:53Speaker 3: all us, but being six feet and getting a chance
- 28:56Speaker 3: to play twenty years at a high level, it's tough.
- 29:00Speaker 3: It's a lot of sacrifice, a lot of time. That's
- 29:02Speaker 3: a choice. That's a choice, because I mean night in
- 29:05Speaker 3: and night out, now I'm guarding a twenty year old
- 29:07Speaker 3: or a twenty one year old or whatnot, and I
- 29:09Speaker 3: just refuse to just let someone say that you can't
- 29:13Speaker 3: do this because you're this age, so gotta do it.
- 29:16Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that. Okay, a few more for you
- 29:18Speaker 1: that I'll let you go. You obviously are just a
- 29:20Speaker 1: wealth of knowledge and information. I could ask you eighty
- 29:23Speaker 1: billion questions, but I really want to get your thoughts
- 29:25Speaker 1: on this face of the league conversation and what do
- 29:29Speaker 1: you think is missing from it?
- 29:33Speaker 2: Which part you know?
- 29:35Speaker 1: I think obviously you know we hear Lebron talk about
- 29:38Speaker 1: how why would you want to sign up or something
- 29:40Speaker 1: like this when people are constantly scrutinize you, scrutinizing you.
- 29:44Speaker 1: Then you have the other school of thought of people
- 29:45Speaker 1: that feel like, well, another star hasn't necessarily been built up.
- 29:48Speaker 1: But I'm just curious, like, where is this disconnect between
- 29:53Speaker 1: the immense talent that exists in the league versus being
- 29:56Speaker 1: the face and why there isn't synergy between the two.
- 30:00Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know. I think.
- 30:03Speaker 3: It's almost you damned if you do, damn if you don't,
- 30:06Speaker 3: And it's got to be about what you want, right,
- 30:09Speaker 3: it's interesting now like back when we first came in
- 30:13Speaker 3: the league, it was only a few media publications. Now
- 30:17Speaker 3: everyone has a voice, right, and that's not a bad thing,
- 30:20Speaker 3: but every everyone has a voice.
- 30:22Speaker 2: Everybody that got a phone.
- 30:23Speaker 3: Can pick up and you can put out, put anything
- 30:26Speaker 3: out on Twitter, Instagram, anything. And what's scary though, is
- 30:30Speaker 3: it's a lot of misinformation out there too, you know.
- 30:33Speaker 3: And so I think guys got to decide what they want.
- 30:37Speaker 2: You know.
- 30:37Speaker 3: I think some guys, you know, maybe want to be
- 30:39Speaker 3: the face of the league. Some guys may not want to.
- 30:41Speaker 3: And you can't tell a guy what he has to do, right,
- 30:44Speaker 3: she cannot. You cannot do that. But I think it's
- 30:47Speaker 3: always interesting because guys pick and choose if they want
- 30:51Speaker 3: to respond to the false information. Right, Like it's the
- 30:55Speaker 3: podcast right, like it's it's a few hundred of.
- 30:58Speaker 1: Them, a lot of podcasts. Yeah, And what's.
- 31:01Speaker 3: Interesting about it, And I mean I called a guy
- 31:05Speaker 3: that I use a lot of times.
- 31:05Speaker 2: I usually don't say anything.
- 31:07Speaker 3: But what's what's great about it is that it means
- 31:10Speaker 3: that people are talking about the sport, talking.
- 31:12Speaker 2: About the game.
- 31:13Speaker 3: But what's not great about it is that everyone sort
- 31:17Speaker 3: of fabricate stories, right, and if you're not a person
- 31:20Speaker 3: who always comes to check people on it, then you know,
- 31:24Speaker 3: people will get to talking with a microphone and then
- 31:26Speaker 3: they be like, oh, they ain't gonna see this. Let
- 31:28Speaker 3: me just throw a little extra or something on this story.
- 31:31Speaker 3: And that's when that's when it ain't cool.
- 31:33Speaker 1: You stopped in mid story. You said, I called a guy.
- 31:37Speaker 1: What was the story?
- 31:38Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, it was just like some people, I
- 31:41Speaker 3: don't even care to address it or whatnot, but you
- 31:43Speaker 3: pay attention, like I got homies, I'm in group chats
- 31:47Speaker 3: or whatnot. But the part that gets scary, like I said,
- 31:49Speaker 3: is the misinformation. Yeah, right, Like people will put misinformation
- 31:53Speaker 3: out there and then you never know it's checked.
- 31:56Speaker 2: You know.
- 31:56Speaker 1: Yeah, I will say this. I do believe, like all things,
- 32:01Speaker 1: media plays a role with everything, and I think that
- 32:05Speaker 1: the idea of the media does play a role and
- 32:08Speaker 1: people's want to be the face or not. But I
- 32:11Speaker 1: also think right now people are a little scared to
- 32:15Speaker 1: look bad. And what I mean by that is it's
- 32:17Speaker 1: the same reason why some guys I think don't want
- 32:19Speaker 1: to do the dunk contest. It's the same reason why
- 32:21Speaker 1: we probably won't see one on ones in the NBA
- 32:24Speaker 1: sometimes because of this culture that's created, and that's media side,
- 32:28Speaker 1: that's just the vitriol that exists online. But I also
- 32:32Speaker 1: feel like we don't want to skew too far living
- 32:34Speaker 1: our lives based on what reaction might be.
- 32:37Speaker 2: You're exactly right.
- 32:38Speaker 3: I think we will at some point see one on
- 32:40Speaker 3: ones in NBA.
- 32:41Speaker 2: I actually do.
- 32:43Speaker 3: And that's the thing about the All Star Game and
- 32:45Speaker 3: all of that too, you know what I mean, Like
- 32:47Speaker 3: I know they was trying to change it this past
- 32:49Speaker 3: year or what, but the All Star Game, you just
- 32:54Speaker 3: you just gotta want to compete. Yeah, right, you gotta
- 32:56Speaker 3: want to compete. And so it ain't even about the
- 33:00Speaker 3: monetary aspect of it, which there's an upside to that
- 33:02Speaker 3: if you win the game, but you just gotta want
- 33:04Speaker 3: to go out there and compete. And I think what's
- 33:07Speaker 3: interesting too when when it comes to podcasts and all that,
- 33:11Speaker 3: and it's interesting to still be in the locker room, right,
- 33:14Speaker 3: I'm still in the locker room.
- 33:15Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 33:16Speaker 3: So that's the perspective I have that a lot of
- 33:18Speaker 3: people don't have.
- 33:19Speaker 2: What it did to a certain extent.
- 33:21Speaker 3: Is it it made sometimes like I ain't gonna lie.
- 33:26Speaker 3: There's been interactions in the past couple of years where
- 33:29Speaker 3: I sit there and I'd be like, oh, hell, I
- 33:30Speaker 3: don't know who's gonna talk about this on the podcast.
- 33:32Speaker 3: But you know it really it changes the interactions with
- 33:36Speaker 3: your teammates. You know, some some things in the locker
- 33:39Speaker 3: room supposed to be sacred.
- 33:41Speaker 1: So sometimes you can look a little to the left
- 33:43Speaker 1: or right if your teammate has their own pod.
- 33:48Speaker 2: No I ain't. I'm saying, like, it ain't. They ain't
- 33:50Speaker 2: got to have their own pods. You can look five
- 33:52Speaker 2: years from now.
- 33:54Speaker 1: Got it, like eventually this story is getting out?
- 33:57Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, seriously, And I mean a lot of
- 34:01Speaker 3: my vets, like the OG's and all that stuff. I
- 34:04Speaker 3: when I came into the league, they might you know,
- 34:06Speaker 3: a team bond an event here, you know, a team
- 34:09Speaker 3: bonding here event that was just that was.
- 34:11Speaker 2: That for that moment?
- 34:12Speaker 3: Yeah, you know what I mean, it wasn't supposed to
- 34:14Speaker 3: be for everybody in they Mama's yeah and we.
- 34:17Speaker 1: Yeah, and we do need to bring back things being
- 34:19Speaker 1: for the moment.
- 34:20Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I missed those storytelling right, You just
- 34:23Speaker 3: gotta I mean, you're a great storyteller. I think everybody
- 34:27Speaker 3: just has to we're all not good at everything.
- 34:30Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, you know, have they given me time? And
- 34:33Speaker 1: I think that's a good place to wrap. I got
- 34:35Speaker 1: to ask you our final question, which is who has
- 34:38Speaker 1: given you the biggest assist off the court?
- 34:41Speaker 3: Who has given me the biggest assist off the court?
- 34:44Speaker 2: Oh, that's easy. That's my family.
- 34:45Speaker 1: I love that.
- 34:46Speaker 2: My wife and my great family. Yeah, my wife and
- 34:49Speaker 2: my kids.
- 34:49Speaker 3: I mean, I told you I've had five hand surgeries
- 34:53Speaker 3: throughout my NBA career. Got sixteen screws in a metal
- 34:57Speaker 3: plate in this hand, fifteen and a metal screws in
- 35:00Speaker 3: this hand. I had meniscus surgery, got a screw in
- 35:03Speaker 3: my foot, and so my wife has literally had to
- 35:06Speaker 3: pick me up from all those different things. My kids have,
- 35:09Speaker 3: you know, missed vacations because I had to rehab or whatnot.
- 35:13Speaker 3: So they sacrificed a lot. So they've definitely given me
- 35:16Speaker 3: the biggest assistance.
- 35:17Speaker 1: I love that answer. Chris Paul A legend in every
- 35:20Speaker 1: sense of the word. Thank you so much for your time. Chris,