The Philadelphia 76ers could have looked a whole lot different this year.
While the team is battling it out with the Brooklyn Nets atop the Eastern Conference standings, there was a strong possibility that the team could have added point guard Chris Paul in the offseason.
That feeling was not mutual, however,
According to a story on Paul from NBA reporter Sam Amick, the 76ers made a “spirited push” for the 35-year-old before he was eventually traded to the Phoenix Suns.
It is unclear what the Sixers would have given up in the trade — whether or not it would have included Ben Simmons — but a deal for Paul would have reunited him with his former coach with the Clippers in Doc Rivers and GM with the Rockets in Daryl Morey.
The latter may have actually factored into why Paul rejected the idea of going to Philadelphia, though.
Amick wrote that Paul was unhappy with Morey, who traded the All-Star to the Oklahoma City Thunder after Paul said Morey told him he would not trade him there.
But the Rockets sent Paul, two first rounders and two pick swaps to Oklahoma City in exchange for Russell Westbrook.
Morey apparently thought that Paul would be moved to Miami immediately after the trade but there was no interest from the Heat, per Amick.
While the story did not explicitly state this was why Paul did not want to go to the Sixers, it did detail how he was unhappy with the way the end of his Houston tenure transpired.
“I was sitting at this place called Sage Valley with my parents and my brother and everybody, and I got a phone call that I was traded,” Paul said. “Unexpectedly. Didn’t know. Like I said, Daryl Morey had just told me a couple weeks before that that he wouldn’t trade me, that he wouldn’t trade me there.”
Paul added that he felt like the team at least owed him a conversation.
As for why the Suns won the CP3 sweepstakes, Paul felt that Phoenix was the best fit for him professionally and personally.
Paul has averaged 16.1 points, 8.7 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game with the Suns, but his impact has also helped the team enter Wednesday in second place in the Western Conference.
Perhaps the Suns and Sixers will meet later this summer in what would be an intriguing NBA Finals.
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