Since he broke into the league as a rookie in 2005, Chris Paul has never come off the bench in his 1,363 career games played.
That streak might come to an end this season with Golden State, as he’s never had to share point guard duties with another player like Steph Curry.
Paul spoke to reporters in Las Vegas on Sunday for the first time since his trade to join the Warriors was made official last week. CP3 was sitting courtside with Steph at Golden State's Summer League game after the duo worked out earlier in the day. The 38-year-old has a reputation for being thorny at times with the media and he had a quick jab when questioned how he’d handle playing with young Warriors players on the bench.
“Are you coaching?” Paul said with a laugh. “I don’t know what the situation is gonna be yet. I think that’ll be for us to figure out when we get going.”
Asked another follow-up about the possibility of not being a starter for the first time in his career, Paul maintained his message.
“It’ll be a conversation for us when camp starts or whatnot,” Paul said. “Me and Steve have talked and whatnot, but that ain’t something where it’s, ‘What up, man? You starting or coming off the bench?’ I think we’ll figure all that stuff out in camp.”
Kerr hasn’t been afraid to play small lineups before, but a backcourt of Paul (6 feet), Curry (6-2) would be tiny, presumably along with Klay Thompson (6-foot-6), Andrew Wiggins (6-foot-7) and Draymond Green (6-foot-6). Starting center Kevon Looney (6-foot-9) is also undersized, but has proven he can handle virtually any big man in the league.
Does CP3 come off the bench? Steph? Klay?
Kerr has a new situation to figure out in 2023-24, as the aging Warriors core just got older and a bit position-redundant at point guard. Paul doesn’t sound worried about figuring out the playing time, via Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
“At the end of the day it’s basketball, it’s not brain surgery,” Paul said. “I’m going into a situation with a bunch of guys who have played together for a long time. I guess it’s me, but I’m not as worried about it as probably everybody else is. When I say ‘everybody’ not necessarily our team, but we’re going to have to figure it out.”
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