Chris Paul is an all-time great who’s made it as far as the NBA Conference Finals only once in his 18-year career. And it’s mostly his body that’s to blame.
Paul left the Suns’ Game 2 loss with 4:32 left in the 3rd quarter. Phoenix led 59-55 when CP3 left the game. Afterward, they were outscored 42-28. Tuesday, the Suns announced Paul would be out for at least a week with a groin strain.
It wasn’t obvious how Paul hurt himself, though Suns coach Monty Williams thought he did it while boxing out for a rebound. That’s the danger of relying on Paul in the playoffs—he gets hurt a lot, and often not on particularly hard contact.
Last year, Phoenix blew a 2-0 lead to the Dallas Mavericks in part due to Paul’s left quad injury. He also may have been nursing a broken thumb. In 2021, he played through a shoulder injury in the first round, then missed the first two games of the Conference Finals with COVID-19. He also had surgery on his left wrist after the 2021 Finals, where he played with the wrist taped up.
His first trip to the Conference Finals in 2018 saw him miss the last two games after tearing his hamstring, possibly due to exaggerating contact on a late shot—your “Chris Paul flops” mileage may vary.
In 2016, Paul suffered a bizarre injury in the first round against the Blazers. As he swiped the ball away from Portland’s Gerald Henderson with his left hand, Paul broke his right hand when it collided with Henderson’s back.
And in 2015, Paul injured his hamstring in the second round against his future team, the Houston Rockets. He missed the first two games, which his Clippers split, before returning in time to take a 3-1 lead—and then blew it.
Paul was always the riskiest part of Phoenix’s top-heavy roster construction after the Kevin Durant trade. It may also be why the Suns reportedly tried to trade Paul before the deadline.
Now they’ll be going forward hoping that Cameron Payne and Damion Lee can compensate for their star’s absence. The Payne-Lee duo was 1-12 in Game 2—but they should both shoot better at home.
Still, the biggest detriment to Paul’s overall legacy remains his string of playoff injuries.
