Chris Paul Announces Retirement From Basketball While Calling His 21-Year NBA Career 'An Unbelievable Blessing'
· Yahoo Sports
Taylor Hill/WireImage
Visit sweetbonanza-app.com for more information.
NEED TO KNOW
- Chris Paul announced his NBA retirement on Friday, Feb. 13
- The 21-year NBA veteran played multiple seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers, who shockingly cut him from the team in December 2025
- Paul was the 2006 NBA Rookie of the Year, won two Olympic gold medals and was named an NBA All-Star 12 times over the course of his career
NBA legend Chris Paul is “stepping away” from professional basketball.
Paul, 40, ends his playing career after 21 seasons in the NBA, noting in his retirement announcement that he’s spent “more than half” his life in the league.
“This is it!” Paul wrote in a statement, which he shared on social media on Friday, Feb. 13. “After 21 years I’m stepping away from basketball. As I write this, it’s hard to really know what to feel, but for once – most people would be surprised – I don’t have the answer lol!”
The longtime Los Angeles Clippers star said, “Mostly I’m filled with so much joy and gratitude.”
“While this chapter of being an ‘NBA player’ is done, the game of basketball will forever be engrained in the DNA of my life,” the Wake Forest alum continued. “I’ve been in the NBA for more than half my life, spanning three decades. It’s crazy even saying that!! Playing basketball for a living has been an unbelievable blessing that also comes with lots of responsibility. I embraced it all. The good and the bad.”
View this post on Instagram
The 12-time NBA All Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist’s retirement comes after a tumultuous final season in which Paul was shockingly cut from the Clippers just weeks after announcing that the 2025-26 season would be the final of his widely celebrated career.
“I’m actually at peace with everything,” Paul told PEOPLE days later, adding that he regretted nothing about his NBA career. “More than anything, I’m excited about being around and getting a chance to play a small role in whatever anything looks like next.”
Paul was officially traded to the Toronto Raptors earlier this month before the team officially waived him from their roster Friday upon his retirement announcement. The Salem, North Carolina native played seven seasons with the New Orleans Hornets after two seasons playing college basketball with Wake Forest, who he helped reach the nation’s No. 1 ranking for the first time in school history.
After his initial stint with the Hornets, Paul played his next seven seasons with the Clippers before spending the last portion of his career bouncing around as a journeyman with several teams, including the Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors and the San Antonio Spurs before returning to Los Angeles for his final season.
Chris PaulHarry How/Getty
Paul never won an elusive NBA Championship, despite reaching the finals with the Suns in 2021. The missing championship crown is perhaps the biggest shadow over Paul’s decorated career, which includes 11 All-NBA Team selections, seven All-NBA Defensive Team selections and winning the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in 2006. He was also named to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team, cementing his legacy as one of the league’s most memorable players of all time.
“The game always gave me a reason to show up,” Paul said in his retirement announcement, listing several emotional flashpoints in his career, including the night he scored 61 points as a high school senior after finding out his grandfatheˇr Nathaniel Paul had been murdered. “The true leaders and fighters know that right there – showing up – is half the battle.”
Luke Hales/Getty
In December after being cut from the Clippers, Paul told PEOPLE he was excited to spend more time at home with his wife Jada and their two children, Chris Jr., 16, and daughter Camryn Alexis, 13.
“I am so excited to take with me to the next chapter all the incredible things basketball has taught me,” Paul said Friday. “And more importantly that the people I have been blessed to meet through basketball have taught me.”
He concluded: “To all the teammates, coaches, staff, executives, and most of all my family. I can’t begin to thank you enough… but the good news is I’ll now have much more time to start!”
Read the original article on People