Chris Paul shot down rumors of any bad blood with his former Houston Rockets teammates after he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder this summer.
The Rockets reportedly imploded following a 4-2 loss to the Golden State Warriors in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs, as Paul was upset with his role in the offense and how head coach Mike D’Antoni heavily favored James Harden as his go-to offensive player.
During an interview with Bleacher Report’s Taylor Rooks in the latest episode of Take It There, Paul noted there’s no bad blood with his former team and that he still talks to many of his former teammates, including PJ Tucker and Eric Gordon.
“When I played with the Clippers… I still talk to [DeAndre Jordan] about every day, I talk to JJ Redick all the time, just about all the guys that I’ve played with there,” said Paul as he moved onto the Rockets. “I still talk to Tuck and all these guys. Eric Gordon and these guys.”
The Thunder talent then went on to clear his beef with the organization, which was centered around general manager Daryl Morey’s decision to trade him to OKC even after having a prior conversation and promising not to trade him there.
“When the stuff happened with the Rockets I just wasnt’ happy about how stuff went down,” said the Thunder guard. “I know it’s a business. You gotta go what you gotta do. But we’re adults, we can communicate. I had just had a conversation with [Morey] just a few days before that and he was like ‘we ain’t gonna trade you to Oklahoma.’ He asked me ‘do you want to go there?’ and I said ‘no, not at this point of my career.’ He said ‘alright, I won’t trade you there because you chose to come to us from L.A. That was that. But now, he don’t owe me nothing.”
Paul had a reported rift with how he was being used by D’Antoni even before the Rockets discussed potentially trading him. Morey’s front office maneuver could have been the nail in the coffin to put an end to his two-year stint in Houston.
Yet the All-Star point guard did manage to walk away with a lucrative contract, one that will have him set for the next two years.
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