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Chris Paul’s banishment from the LA Clippers is over.
The 40-year-old future Hall of Famer, whose final NBA season was put on hold when the Clippers sent him home in early December, has been traded to the Toronto Raptors in a three-team deal involving the Brooklyn Nets, a team source confirmed to The Athletic.
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It is unlikely that Paul will play for the Raptors. He could be re-traded before Thursday’s deadline or waived.
The trade will send guard Ochai Agbaji, a 2032 second-round pick from Toronto, and cash to Brooklyn. The Clippers will receive the draft rights to 2019 No. 60 overall pick Vanja Marinković from the Nets, a team source said.
The deal amounts to a rare double-salary-dump. The Clippers got out of Paul’s deal with just cash going out, while the difference between Agbaji’s $6.4 million salary and Paul’s minimum deal gets the Raptors out of the luxury tax. That was the only item on the must-do list for the Raptors at the deadline.
Whether or not the Raptors keep Paul, they will have at least one empty roster spot and the necessary money to add a player on the veteran’s minimum while staying below the luxury-tax threshold. The Raptors need help up front, with starter Jakob Poeltl limited this season by a back injury.
The Nets will get a second-round pick and a free look at Agbaji but will need to waive a player to complete the trade.
Wednesday’s deal ends Paul’s unceremonious second stint with the franchise.
Paul hasn’t played since Dec. 1, a 140-123 Clippers road loss against the Miami Heat that dropped the team’s record to 5-16. After that game, Paul met with Clippers basketball president Lawrence Frank in Atlanta. The late start to the meeting and its length led to Paul announcing on social media that he was being sent home from the team with which he played the prime of his career from 2011 to 2017.
Since leaving the Clippers, Paul has regularly worked out at the franchise’s old training facility in Playa Vista so he can be ready to continue what is expected to be his final season.
This season, Paul averaged 2.9 points, 3.3 assists and 0.7 steals in 14.3 minutes, all career lows. Paul has made only 32.1 percent of his shots from the field, also a career low, and 33.3 percent from 3. While still a sound decision maker and steals generator, Paul has not demonstrated that he has the ability to create advantages to weaponize his playmaking and has to be protected defensively as a 40-year-old player who stands only 6-feet tall.
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Paul is a 12-time All-Star, an 11-time All-NBA selection and a nine-time All-Defense selection. He has won Olympic gold medals playing for Team USA in the 2008 Beijing Games and 2012 London Games, and was a member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team. Only Utah Jazz Hall of Famer John Stockton has more career assists. Paul was the first player in NBA history to score at least 20,000 points and record 10,000 assists.
Paul signed a minimum contract with the Clippers this season with the intention of finishing his storied career there. He was the fourth pick of the 2005 NBA Draft by New Orleans, and he played his first six NBA seasons with the Hornets. After being traded to LA, Paul made five of his All-Star appearances with the Clippers, who began a streak of 14 consecutive winning seasons upon Paul’s arrival.
The Clippers are currently attempting to extend that streak to 15 seasons this year. They began their turnaround more than two weeks after parting ways with Paul, though Tuesday’s decision to trade James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers might slow their momentum.
After leaving the Clippers in 2017, Paul played with the Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs.
The Raptors acquired Agbaji from Utah at the 2024 trade deadline. He struggled to finish that season and then again in an appearance at the Las Vegas Summer League. However, he had his best year in 2024-25, averaging 10.9 points and shooting 39.9 percent from 3, both career bests. At times, it looked like he could be an undersized 3-and-D rotation player. However, his shooting has cratered this year, and he has battled younger players such as Gradey Dick and Ja’Kobe Walter for minutes.
Toronto’s three-year, $120 million extension for Brandon Ingram helped put the Raptors about $1 million over the luxury-tax threshold. As Agbaji, 25, will be a free agent this offseason — restricted if his team extends him an $8.9 million qualifying offer, unrestricted if not — the 2022 lottery pick became a likely target to be traded so the Raptors could save money.