Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James reacted to the news that Chris Paul will be retiring at the end of the season.
It wasn’t exactly shocking news when Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul recently announced his decision to retire from the NBA at the conclusion of the 2025-26 season, his 21st in the league. It did bring back a flood of memories, however, as Paul was one of the defining players of a beloved generation in the sport.
Following Paul’s retirement announcement, his longtime friend and fellow over-40 NBA superstar LeBron James offered his best wishes for the retirement tour and insisted that he wanted to see his friend enjoy his final year as a professional basketball player to the fullest.
“I want him to just be as happy as he possibly can,” James said. “You don't want to look back on it when you're done and be like angry that you didn't take full advantage of your last year and things of that nature. I know he's happy being back in LA with his family, seeing his son, seeing his daughter, seeing what they're doing and I know that's pretty special to him.”
James also paid tribute to Paul’s career on the court and made it clear that the legendary point guard has absolutely nothing to prove in the sport as he moves on to the next chapter in his life. Paul came into the league in 2005, 2 years after James, and the two have had largely coinciding careers from the time they were teenagers to being two of the last players left from that era.
From One Legend To Another
“Hell of a player, hell of a career,” James said.”I can go on and on and on, but it's awesome. I mean, he has nothing to hang his head about. He's done pretty much everything that this league had to offer. I just hope he just takes it all in. This is his last hurrah. We never get this moment again, once you're done, to be able to go out and be in the arena.”
Paul will leave the game as one of the most accomplished players to ever play the sport and he is firmly in the conversation among the three to five best point guards in league history. Paul is a four-time first-team All-NBA player, a seven-time first-team All-Defensive player and five-time NBA single-season assists leader.
In 2021, Paul was named to the NBA 75th anniversary team that honored the 75 best players throughout the entirety of NBA history.