Chris Paul Trolled the Timberwolves in Fine ‘Fashion’
Chris Paul is an NBA veteran who is on the verge of dishing out his 10,000th career assist, something that could happen Sunday night against the Los Angeles Lakers. Paul is equally skilled at creating his own shots, though not all of them come with the ball in his hands.
Paul masterfully trolled the Minnesota Timberwolves in his most recent outing, rubbing salt in an old wound.
Chris Paul is about to hit a milestone
Chris Paul has been one of the top playmakers in the NBA from the moment he made his debut for the New Orleans Hornets in 2005. Paul came into the league after two exceptional seasons at Wake Forest and immediately averaged 16.1 points and 7.8 assists in a 78-game rookie season.
Two seasons later, Paul led the NBA in assists for the first of four times, posting a career-best 11.6 assists a game. The 2007-08 season also marked the first of nine consecutive All-Star selections.
And though Paul has bounced around from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Houston Rockets to the Oklahoma City Thunder and now the Phoenix Suns recently, he remains a force. Paul owns career averages of 18.4 points and 9.4 assists in 16 seasons and more than 1,000 games.
Playing against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, Paul logged nine assists to push his career total to 9,991. Nine more assists on March 21 against the Los Angeles Lakers will push him to the 10K mark, previously reached by John Stockton (15,806), Jason Kidd (12,091), Steve Nash (10,335), Mark Jackson (10,334), and Magic Johnson (10,141).
The All-Star snitched on the Minnesota Timberwolves to steal a win
Chris Paul played last season with the Oklahoma City Thunder and enjoyed his best shooting numbers in a decade by cutting down on 3-pointers and taking the ball to the hole more often. His work helped the Thunder to a 44-28 record, including one victory he absolutely stole.
Early in December 2019, the Thunder trailed the Minnesota Thunderwolves, 121-119, with just over a second left and Karl-Anthony Towns at the foul line for his second free throw. Minnesota subbed in Jordan Bell, but Paul noticed his jersey was untucked.
The 11-time NBA All-Star alerted referee Scott Foster, and Minnesota was whistled for its second delay of game violation. OKC’s Danilo Gallinari made the technical free throw, and then Towns made his free throw to restore the two-point margin. Against all odds, OKC’s Steven Adams was able to throw long to Dennis Schroder for a bucket to force overtime, and the Thunder went on to a 139-127 victory.
Chris Paul trolled the Timberwolves in fine fashion
Chris Paul has moved on to the Phoenix Suns, but it was evident Friday that the Minnesota Timberwolves’ broadcast crew hasn’t moved on from jerseygate.
The Suns were putting the finishing touches on a 113-101 victory when Paul could be seen on the court with his jersey untucked. It’s a toss-up as to whether Paul was trolling the Timberwolves at that point, but we’re leaning in that direction. It was a little too much for announcers Dave Benz and Jim Peterson, courtesy of the Awful Announcing website:
Benz: “Chris Paul, jersey untucked and all. I mean, that thing is really down.”
Peterson: “The irony of Chris Paul walking around with his jersey untucked is just thick.”
Benz: “You’ve got that right.”
Peterson: “It’s just slapping every Timberwolves fan in the face right now.”
Yup. Put one in the mind games win column for Paul.
All stats courtesy of Basketball Reference.
