James Harden Reportedly 'Opposed' Chris Paul Joining Clippers in NBA Free Agency

Los Angeles Clippers star James Harden was reportedly against the idea of the team signing veteran point guard Chris Paul during the offseason.

Speaking on the Kevin O'Connor Show (h/t HoopsHype), Yahoo Sports' Kevin O'Connor said Harden was "opposed" to the Paul signing and was "one of the guys who was like, 'Eh, I'm not so sure here.'"

The Clippers announced Wednesday that they had decided to part ways with Paul, just 16 games into the future Hall of Famer's second stint with the organization.

Paul posted early Wednesday morning on Instagram that he found out he was "being sent home."

Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank later confirmed the news in a statement, saying, "We are parting ways with Chris and he will no longer be with the team. We will work with him on the next step of his career. Chris is a legendary Clipper who has had a historic career. I want to make one thing very clear. No one is blaming Chris for our underperformance. I accept responsibility for the record we have right now. There are a lot of reasons why we've struggled. We're grateful for the impact Chris has made on the franchise."

The Athletic's Sam Amick, Law Murray and Joe Vardon reported this week that Clippers head coach Ty Lue and his staff were "at wit's end" with Paul, and some of the players on the team "took exception with his disparaging tone."

The 40-year-old Paul's leadership style reportedly didn't resonate with the team, and given his limited on-court role, the decision was made to remove CP3 from the roster.

Paul is a 12-time All-Star and 11-time All-NBA selection who previously starred with the Clippers from 2011 to 2017.

He is second in NBA history in both assists (12,552) and steals (2,728), and he was the premier point guard in the league for many of his 21 NBA seasons.

However, Paul was brought back to L.A. to be a reserve this season, and he played only 14.3 minutes per game, averaging 2.9 points, 3.3 assists and 1.8 rebounds, while shooting 32.1 percent from the field.

Despite being the oldest and most experienced team in the league, the Clippers have also been among the NBA's worst teams this season, as their 6-16 record is 13th out of 15 teams in the Western Conference.

Barring a massive turnaround, the Clippers are trending toward missing the playoffs for the first time since 2022.

Moving on from Paul won't necessarily change that, but it does place the on-court and leadership burden on the team's best players, including Harden and Kawhi Leonard.