After 20 years of being one of the peskiest — and, ahem, most dominant — point guards in NBA history, Chris Paul is officially retiring. In a Nov. 22 post on X, CP3 announced that this season will be his last. His exit will mark the end of one of the most well-rounded careers the league’s ever seen, as the Point God did any and nearly everything he wanted to do with the rock — except turn the ball over to the rival team.
In celebration of his career, Complex reveals 40 Things You Didn’t Know About Chris Paul.
Along with Paul George, he convinced Donovan Mitchell to keep his name in the 2017 NBA Draft
Donovan Mitchell might have just come off a breakthrough season at Louisville, but he wasn’t feeling so sure about entering the NBA. That was, until he worked out with Chris Paul and Paul George. Speaking to SLAM mere months after the Utah Jazz drafted him in 2017, Mitchell revealed that both NBA superstars convinced him to keep his name in the draft before he finally decided he wouldn’t return to school.
He eats a plant-based diet
Like several other elite NBA guys over the last several years, Chris Paul went vegan to help enhance his performance—specifically, after somewhat of a down, injury plagued year during his second Houston Rockets season.
He’s got more bounce than Russell Westbrook
It feels like absolute cap, but it’s true: CP3 jumps higher than Russell Westbrook. At least he did when he entered the league. According to the NBA’s official NBA draft database, Chris Paul reached a 38-inch vertical leap when tested at the 2005 NBA Combine. When Westbrook was entering the league and tested his own vertical at the 2008 Combine, he measured at 36.5 inches for his max vertical. Now, it’s been well chronicled that Westbrook was a late bloomer and didn’t dunk until he was an upperclassmen in high school. And any sensible person can tell that he certainly eclipses a mark of 36.5 inches in-game action, or, at the very least, has much more functional hops than Paul ever did in actual basketball games. But we shouldn’t have been shocked when CP caught that alley oop in the All-Star game a few years back.
He’s made more All-Defensive Teams than any point guard, ever
He might only be about 5’11.75” in socks, but CP3’s powerful base, quick hands, and high basketball IQ made him one of the most impactful defenders the league had ever seen at the point guard position. So impactful, in fact, he made nine All-Defensive teams — more than any other point guard in history.
He’s the shortest player to ever have a Player Efficiency Rating of 30 or over
Chris Paul’s 2008-2009 was a historically productive one. That year, he averaged 21.1 points, 4 rebounds, 11.6 assists and 2.7 steals on about 49% from the field, 36.4% from three and 85% from the free throw line. That pristine statline earned him a 30 PER, a rarefied mark that’s only been matched or eclipsed in a season by 16 people, including future Hall of Famers like Nikola Jokic, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Dwyane Wade and others. At 6’0,” Chris Paul is the shortest player to do so.
He’s the last active player from the 2005 NBA Draft
After Lou Williams retired in June 2023, Chris Paul became the last active player from the 2005 NBA Draft. Although it was a solid class featuring All-Stars such as Deron Williams and David Lee, scorers like Monta Ellis, and longtime contributors such as Marvin Williams, Andrew Bogut, and Channing Frye, Paul is likely the only future Hall of Famer in the class.
He is one of only three players in history with over 20k points and 10k assists
CP didn’t have the loudest game per se, but he was more than a little productive. As of today, he is one of only three players in NBA history to have over 20,000 points and 10,000 assists, sitting at 23,045 points and an unthinkable 12,545 assists. The only other two members of this club are LeBron James and Russell Westbrook. Paul was the first player to reach the mark, doing so in October 2021.
He is the only player under 6’1” to make an All-NBA Team more than seven times
Chris Paul made the All-NBA team 11 times in his career, and if it hadn’t been for some injuries, he would’ve made at least a few more. But as it stands, he’s still the only player under 6’1” to make one of the teams more than seven times.
He’s the only NBA player to make All-NBA teams with four different franchises
Chris Paul’s career spanning two decades is proof that he’s been good for a long time. But looking a little more granularly, it gets even wilder: Chris Paul was so effective across so many eras that he made at least one All-NBA team with four different franchises, including the New Orleans Hornets (Pelicans), the Los Angeles Clippers, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Phoenix Suns.
He won 20 consecutive one-on-one games against Gilbert Arenas
He doesn’t get spoken of in these terms, but Chris Paul is probably one of the deadliest one-on-one players in history. Don’t trust the numbers—his various isolation points per possession stats over the years? Ask Gilbert Arenas, who remembers a pre-rookie year CP3 frying him in one-on-one games over and over and over and over again.
He intentionally scored 61 points in a game to honor every year of his grandfather's life.
During his senior year in high school, Chris scored 61 points in a game to honor every year of the life of his 61-year-old grandad Nathaniel Jones. Just two days earlier, Jones had been murdered by a group of five teenagers for his wallet. Though there were still a couple minutes left in the contest (and he was only six points shy of the 50+ year old state record) Paul intentionally air balled a free throw and checked himself out before breaking down in tears. The tribute, which made national headlines, was featured on Good Morning America.
He was an Academic All-American with a 3.21 GPA.
Paul achieved a 3.21 GPA in the 2004-05 season to join Rusty LaRue as the only two Demon Deacons to ever be given this highest of honors bestowed upon our most studious athletes.
He and his family appeared on “Family Feud.”
Back in 2011, Chris Paul and his family lived their dream by banding together to compete (and then lose) on this viewing staple of stay-at-home parents, the elderly, and the unemployed.
He once bought a house from Avril Lavigne.
First it was owned by Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, then it was passed along to Avril Lavigne, who sold it to Paul for the tidy sum of $8.5 million. The Bel Air mansion comes loaded with enough square footage (12,000), and bedrooms (eight) for a family reunion.
His favorite video game growing up was "Virtual Tennis."
Tennis' simplicity translates amazingly to the world of video games. Anybody who ever picked up Virtual Tennis for Sega's Dreamcast already knew this. That included Chris Paul, who chose this glorified version of Pong over other titles (all of them revolving around sports) including: Madden, NBA Jam, NFL 2K and the Tiger Woods Series.
He shared a personal chef with Reggie Bush.
When they were both playing in New Orleans, Chris Paul and Reggie Bush shared a bond closer than friendship, a personal chef. In addition to serving the future Hall of Famer and the vacated Heisman winner, their chef also personally cooked for Tyson Chandler, Austin Rivers and Kim Kardashian.
He was named one of People's “100 Most Beautiful People.”
In 2006, People Magazine made their readers twice as insecure by doubling their “50 Most Beautiful People” to their “100 Most Beautiful People.” Adding those extra 50 was just the opening the reigning Rookie of the Year needed to get his foot in the door, unfortunately he couldn't beat out Angelina Jolie for the top spot.
He wrote a children's book.
Long Shot: Never Too Small to Dream Big is Chris Paul's autobiographical children's book about a kid wanting to make a basketball team, but being too diminutive to make it happen (or so he thinks). If you're wondering how it ends, then look up what “autobiographical” means.
He held a copy of his grandfather's obituary before every one of his college games.
In addition to dedicating a 61-point game to the man Paul once described as his "best friend," he also kept his memory strong by holding a laminated obituary of the man before every game at Wake Forest.
For three years, he was president of his high school class.
If you had a kid in your high school who was the best at everything and you hated him, then you know how Chris Paul's classmates felt. Actually, we don't know about the “hate him” part, they probably didn't. But he had a 3.5 GPA, was class president, a football star, and a five-star point guard recruit. So, safe to say, he was making some kids look bad.
He hosted both Greg Oden and Mike Conley on their official visits to Wake Forest.
Ultimately he couldn't convince either of the five-star recruits to venture southeast to enroll for a token year at Wake Forest. In some alternate universe these two lost a national championship as Demon Deacons instead of at Ohio State.
He doesn't believe in talking trash to the player defending him.
If you've ever watched Chris Paul play, odds are you've seen his mouth running. But when he does so, it's apparently not at the guy he's being guarded by. According to Paul: "I feel like I've worked so hard to get good, I'm expected to score on you." So if you draw Paul as an assignment (hypothetically) you'll be the only dude in the gym he isn't yapping at. Players on the bench, on his own team, on the other team, or even refs? Well, they're not as lucky.
He was 5'1” when he started high school.
Everybody says Chris Paul is short, Kobe even went so far to say he had a “little-man complex,” but he's only tiny in a league where the average player has to duck to get through a doorway. The NBA tends to skew our perspective. But when Chris Paul was getting ready for his first day of high school, he was perfect locker stuffing height at 5'1”. By his junior year he hit a growth spurt and sprouted to the height he still stands at today.
He pumps himself up before games with gospel music.
When you think of gospel music, you probably think of sitting in a pew bored out of your mind. When Chris Paul thinks of it, it has the opposite effect, getting him in the mood to play basketball. We'd say it makes Paul the Tim Tebow of the NBA except for, you know, everything else that's happened in each of their respective careers.
His grandfather opened the first black-owned service station in North Carolina.
During the height of the Civil Rights movement, Chris's grandfather opened the first Black-owned service station in North Carolina. Many decades later it became Chris (and his brother's) summer job. If you want motivation to get good at basketball, try pumping someone's gas and changing their oil in 100-degree weather all day, everyday.
He was a spokesperson for the United States Bowling Congress.
Paul is an avid bowler. It's a passion he has cultivated since his senior year in high school. His love for the sport has grown so much that in 2007, he signed a three-year agreement to become the official spokesperson for the United States Bowling Congress. CP3 later started his own PBA Celebrity Invitational.
He owns his own Professional Bowlers Association team.
The Professional Bowling Association also has other celebrity owners, like Terrell Owens and Kevin Hart. Paul admits that being in the NBA prevents him from playing as much as he would like to. His love for bowling runs so deep that back home in N.C., CP3 admits he “probably” has 20 bowling balls.
Part of Paul's rookie hazing included singing Madonna's “Vogue.”
Every NBA rookie gets hazed. Even Paul couldn't avoid it after he was selected by the Hornets with the fourth overall pick in the 2005 draft. And while carrying the bags of teammate P.J. Brown and buying donuts for everyone before practice isn't all that bad, CP3 also had to sing Madonna's “Vogue” to the whole team.
Paul appeared on the NPR game show, “Wait Wait…Don't Tell Me!”
Back in 2007, Paul played the game “You Want Me to Eat What?” where he tried to figure out three failed food products listed by Mental Floss.
Paul and his brother weren't allowed to play basketball unless they maintained a 3.0 GPA.
His parents stressed the importance of getting a quality education and as you already saw, Paul kept it going all the way through his collegiate years.
In sixth grade, Paul had a pair of Jordan 13s stolen out of his locker while he was playing in an intramural basketball game.
Nowadays, if that situation were to happen again, Paul could just personally hit up Jordan for a new pair. Well that, or dig into his nine-figure savings.
He has the type of sneaker collection which would make all sneakerheads weep.
When Paul's wife, Jada Crawley, posted a picture of the collection, she added the caption, “We turned an entire bedroom into what we call the 'museum.'” Oh, you mad, huh?
He's a huge Gladiator.
If you don't know what that is, it's probably a good thing. For those that are unfamiliar with the term, a Gladiator was the name given to fans of the 2010s hit show, Scandal. While on Ellen, Paul detailed just how deep his fandom for the show goes. From forcing members of his family to not watch the show without him to meeting Tony Goldwyn, the man who played President Fitzgerald Grant, in person and referring to him as “Fitz,” it gets pretty crazy for CP3.
He played football before basketball.
As we touched on previously, before hitting a major growth spurt midway through high school, Paul was well under six feet tall. Since he was so short for basketball, CP3 played football and was actually pretty good, excelling at quarterback, running back and even linebacker. In his junior year at West Forsyth High School, he transitioned over to the hardwood after his older brother, C.J., went to Hampton University on a scholarship, and that's when his career took off.
His son beat Grant Hill in a game of one-on-one.
Maybe Hill let Paul's son Christopher Emmanuel Paul II win, but we'll never know for sure. After all, if little man got his father's skills, he's going to be hard to beat out on the court.
He met his wife through a mutual friend in high school.
Even though, at the time, they were attending rival high schools in the area and Paul was a junior when his future wife JadaCrawley was a senior, a mutual friend brought them together and the rest is history.
He likely would've attended the University of North Carolina, but the Tar Heels wanted him to walk on in his freshman year.
Growing up, Paul was a huge Tar Heels fan and would've loved to play for them in college. But then-head coach Matt Doherty didn't offer a scholarship. According to CP3's high school coach, David Laton, Doherty informed the future Point God that he would need walk on for his first year because the school did not have any more scholarships. Was he telling the truth? Who knows? Is Doherty kicking himself for not making room for Paul? Absolutely.
In college, he would go with his family to IHOP after every game.
It didn't matter if the Demon Deacons won or lost, you would find Paul and his family at an IHOP near campus. It must've been real awkward for the waiter after they caught an L. Just sayin'.
Michael Jordan gave him the assist on a game-winning shot in a pickup game.
Following his freshman year at Wake Forest, Paul worked in Michael Jordan's Flight School camp in Santa Barbara, Calif. over the summer. During his time there, CP3 played alongside MJ in a pick-up game that he says he will never forget. “Jordan was actually posting up Rashad McCants. He looked over to the win and told me, 'Spot up John Paxson.' That's what he called me,” Paul said. “When my man went to trap him, he threw it to me, and I hit the game winning shot.”
He hates when people tap his head.
In an interview with GQ six months after Pau Gasol tapped him on the head, Paul was remarkably still upset about it. “We call that sonnin',” he said. “Like when I take Li'l Chris to the bathroom, I'll walk with my hand on his head. That's my son. You know what I mean? I understand that Gasol is that tall, but don't do to me what I do to my son.” Damn son, relax! Wait, wait, we didn't mean it like that. Sorry, Mr. Paul.