Chris Paul Rumors: Relationship with Clippers Brass Should Be Secondary Factor

For all the impending Dwightmare (Season Two) talk going on in NBA circles at the moment, Dwight Howard is not the best free agent hitting the market this summer. And it's not even that close. 

Instead, that moniker goes to Chris Paul, the NBA's best point guard and one of the game's best pure point guards in history. While the expectation throughout the 2012-13 regular season was that Paul would re-up with the Los Angeles Clippers this summer, that no longer looks like a sure thing. 

How? Clippers owner Donald Sterling has gone full Sterling already this offseason. Already derided as one of the worst owners in modern NBA history, Sterling has seemingly made it his No. 1 goal to ruin his once-hapless franchise's ascent to the title of "best team in Los Angeles."

How did he do that, you ask? Well, by throwing his best player under the bus, that's how. When asked by the Los Angeles Times'  T.J. Simers whether the firing of coach Vinny Del Negro was done "just to hang on to Chris Paul," Sterling all but confirmed that it was. 

"I always want to be honest and not say anything that is not true," Sterling said. "So I'd rather not say anything."

You'll be surprised to hear this: Paul wasn't happy about that quote. According to what a source told ESPN's Chris Broussard, Sterling's fanning of public perception that Paul had Del Negro fired left the point guard feeling "anger" toward the organization:

"

He's angry right now and his anger is directed toward the Clippers organization. Chris is a man of principle and if he feels like you've gone against his principles, it will affect how he feels about you. He's very agitated that his name has been put out there as the reason for Vinny's firing. He had nothing to do with it.

"

Vice president of basketball operations Gary Sacks later tried to backtrack on Sterling's comments, telling Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN that the decision to fire Del Negro was the team's alone. But the damage was already done. Speculation is now boundless about whether Sterling's comments will lead Paul to leave the Clippers at the altar.

The answer: unclear. But it shouldn't hold any weight. 

Not everyone likes the man who signs the checks. And it's pretty easy to get over a little rift when someone hands over $100 million guaranteed in your name. Chris Paul is a basketball player. And he needs to make a basketball decision, not one rooted in pettiness. 

The biggest question Paul has to ask himself is whether he's willing to anchor the remainder of his prime to this core. Namely, whether he's willing to put stock in Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan becoming championship-worthy companions—both as players and as locker room presences.

Jordan is expendable, and odds are the Clippers eventually ship him out for a player more ready to winnow. The 24-year-old center's name was already mentioned in the oft-discussed Kevin Garnett deal and was a divisive force in the locker room after clashing with Del Negro during the regular season. He can be expunged quickly, should the Clippers look to move in that direction. 

Griffin, though, needs to grow up. Fast.

And we're not talking about the oft-mentioned trope of Griffin not having a post game. That's long been inane, exposing those who actually watch the sport (people who see Blake's improvement in the post) and those who don't (rooftop shouters decrying Griffin as "raw" in the post). It would, however, be fair to say Griffin doesn't do enough defensively. That being said, a lot of 24-year-old basketball players don't do enough defensively.

It's more the mental state of Griffin that needs fixing. Just two years after jumping over a car and into our hearts at the 2011 NBA dunk contest, Griffin has become quite the lightning rod of criticism. Whether it's his incessant complaining to officials, or his flopping, or whatever else anyone wants to bring up, the mere mention of the name "Blake Griffin" brings an instant reaction.

That reaction is getting less positive by the minute. And as noted by T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times, the relationship between Griffin and Paul isn't exactly BFF-worthy. Griffin and Jordan reportedly grew tired of hearing Paul, known as a demonstrative (read: He yells a lot.) leader, criticize them on the floor. 

Part of that is Paul's fault. Not everyone has the psyche to drown out the yelling, and he needs to get better at picking his spots. Part of that is Griffin's (and Jordan's) fault for being thin-skinned and unable to take criticism. And the remaining portion is on Del Negro for not having any semblance of power within the Clippers locker room. 

The latter part should, in theory, be eradicated with the hiring of the new coach. But the Clippers seem to be Clippering that as well. Los Angeles informed Del Negro that he would not return on May 21, three weeks after the Clippers were eliminated from the playoffs. And they've continued that indecision in the weeks since Del Negro's departure, seemingly with the impetus being to land a big-name coach.

With Phil Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy and others seemingly not heading to Los Angeles, it will be interesting to see where this search goes. Odds are the Clippers will still land a coach with some clout, but will it be enough to make any discernible impact on Paul's decision?

That remains to be seen. The decision Paul is making isn't one about being thrown under the bus, or who coaches him next, or who he gets along with. This deal, assuming it lasts four or five years, will probably be Paul's last chance to win a ring as The Man. 

And that factor has to be the biggest in Paul's head. His window to win is now. At 28 years old, Paul has had knee problems in two of the past three seasons, including having the meniscus removed in his right knee in 2010. That can cause some bone-on-bone discomfort, which may have been the root cause of some of the Clippers' conservativeness in dealing with his kneecap injury this season. 

There's no guarantee that Paul's knee issues will crop up again. But it's also fair to say Paul is in worse shape than a person with, say, two menisci. 

It's imbecilic for us to speculate, especially when Paul played 37.2 minutes per night in the playoffs and looked just fine. That being said, it's prudent for Paul to consider everything—including his NBA mortality—when making this decision.

By July, odds are that Paul will remain a Clipper. He can't look at the prospect of playing with 35-year-old Dirk Nowitzki (on June 19) in Dallas and think that's a better solution. He can't look at the Hawks' completely blank slate save for Al Horford and think Danny Ferry can construct a better, deeper roster than the one in Los Angeles. And while Houston might be interesting from a talent standpoint, the logistics of Paul running a high-flying, uptempo system into his 30s seems questionable. 

So it's hard to see Paul eschewing the Clippers, mainly because they provide the best financial windfall and best roster for now. If he does choose to go elsewhere, perhaps Sterling's comments in the media will play a factor. Perhaps he'll look at Clippers history and see that this is the most cursed franchise in NBA history.

All of that's possible. But if Paul decides to make his decision based on feelings rather than intellect, he might find his jewelry case still empty a half-decade down the line. 

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