LOOKBACK: How Chris Paul became a winning legend without NBA titles

To the casual viewer, Chris Paul is just another one of those superstars infamous for being eluded by the coveted NBA championship.

Like Karl Malone, John Stockton, Charles Barkley, and Vince Carter before him, the so-called “Point God” has amassed numerous individual accolades without the ultimate team award to top it off, and naturally attracted a handful of critics because of it.

But just like the other ringless legends before his time, the 36-year-old Paul has steadily shown in recent years that he doesn’t need an NBA title, nor will likely ever need one, to cement his legacy as one of the greatest winners the league has ever seen.

Even before he brought his leadership this season to the resurgent Phoenix Suns, who are currently enjoying a league second-best 36-14 record, CP3 has known nothing in the NBA except win, no matter what the circumstances are.

Time and time again, from the moment he stepped foot in the league, Paul has turned franchises around for the better, and has shown no signs of slowing down.

New Orleans Hornets

• Record before Paul: 18-64 (2004-2005) 
• Best record with Paul: 56-26 (2007-2008)
• Record after Paul: 21-45 (2011-2012)

After getting just the fourth overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft despite a second-worst 18-64 record, the Hornets missed out on drafting 6-foot-3 guard Deron Williams, and instead went for the 6-foot Paul, who had nowhere near Williams’ raw athleticism.

However, those bad lottery odds turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the diminutive, but cunning Paul slotted in perfectly alongside big men Tyson Chandler and David West, immediately helping the Hornets become a contender in just two years.

Paul would go on to lead New Orleans to three playoff appearances in his last four years with the team before getting infamously traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Los Angeles Clippers

• Record before Paul: 32-50 (2010-2011)
• Best record with Paul: 57-25 (2013-2014)
• Record after Paul: 42-40 (2017-2018)

Although the world never got to see Paul teaming up with a prime Kobe Bryant following the controversial Lakers-Hornets trade veto by the NBA, the neighboring Clippers instead got a much-needed breath of fresh air following his acquisition.

With the lone star power of Blake Griffin simply not cutting it for the “other” LA team, Paul’s arrival heralded a new, exciting, and most importantly, successful era of Clippers basketball known as “Lob City.”

Led by CP3’s unparalleled floor generalship, the once-lowly Clippers experienced five straight 50-win seasons from 2012 to 2017. Incidentally, these are still the only 50-win years in team history ever since their inception in 1974.

However, these were also the years when Paul and the Clippers rapidly built their reputation as playoff chokers, especially after inexcusably blowing a 3-1 lead to the Houston Rockets in 2015.

Houston Rockets

• Record before Paul: 55-27 (2016-2017)
• Best record with Paul: 65-17 (2017-2018, franchise-best)
• Record after Paul: 44-28 (2018-2019)

Speaking of the Rockets, Paul eventually traded his blue Clipper colors for the Houston red in 2017, and created a dynamic duo with future MVP James Harden.

Despite naysayers immediately criticizing the pairing of two extremely ball-dominant guards, Paul and Harden synced up perfectly, and led Houston to a franchise-best 65-17 record, even getting within one win of the 2018 finals.

However, disaster struck once again as Paul went down with a hamstring injury late in the crucial Game 5 at home, which then opened the door for the defending champion Golden State Warriors to rout the Rockets out of contention in Games 6 and 7.

Today, the ill-fated 2017-2018 Rockets season remains one of the biggest “what ifs” in recent NBA history.

Given how the Warriors easily cruised through the Cleveland Cavaliers in the finals despite a historic carry job by LeBron James, it’s not a far-fetched idea to think that the Rockets could have also won it all had Paul stayed healthy for just a few more games.

Oklahoma City Thunder

• Record before Paul: 49-33 (2018-2019)
• Best record with Paul: 44-28 (2019-2020)
• Record after Paul: 20-31 (2020-2021, ongoing)

Following Russell Westbrook’s shocking trade from the Thunder to the Rockets in the 2019 off-season, Paul became somewhat of an afterthought trade piece who just happened to match the salary needed for the big move.

It did not help that Westbrook’s co-star Paul George also left OKC for the Clippers in a trade package centered around promising sophomore guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Despite having a 0.2% chance of making the playoffs according to ESPN, Paul shocked the world by leading a ragtag Thunder group to the postseason for a first-round matchup against no other than Westbrook, Harden, and the Rockets.

In an even more surprising development, Paul actually managed to lead the Thunder into the playoffs farther than Westbrook ever had since Kevin Durant left in 2016.

Regardless, the heavily-favored Rockets eventually closed the series in Game 7, but not before the OKC underdogs took them to the absolute limit.

Phoenix Suns

• Record before Paul: 34-39 (2019-2020)
• Best record with Paul: 36-14 (2020-2021, ongoing)

Picking up where he left off with Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder, Paul is now mentoring another young star guard, and leading another rebuilding team to an unexpected winning season.

Just 50 games into Paul’s Phoenix debut run, he has already helped the Suns to more wins than the entirety of its 72-game season last year.

And for the first time in his career, two-time All-Star Devin Booker is now comfortably on pace to reach the postseason after falling short last year in the bubble, where the Suns failed to clinch the playoffs despite going 8-0 in the seeding games.

Once again, another franchise has Paul to thank for fast-tracking their rise back to relevancy. Even before this newest instance, he is already a proven winner overdue of everyone’s full respect.

While the Point God may not yet have a big, gleaming trophy to call his own, it doesn’t really matter at this point to someone who turns everything into gold. – Rappler.com