When the Golden State Warriors paired arguably the two greatest point guards of the century together in the 2023 offseason, there was plenty of debate on how exactly it would work.
Yet despite some initial hesitancy in the idea shortly after the trade, Chris Paul accepted a sixth man role for the first time in his illustrious career, in doing so playing second fiddle to long-time rival Stephen Curry.
While the Warriors failed to reach the playoffs, and Paul missed a period of time due to a broken hand, he was still serviceable for the franchise in his 58 games (40 off the bench). As a result most believed that the 12x All-Star had reached the point of his career where a bench role would become the norm, but Paul had other ideas in signing with the San Antonio Spurs during the offseason rather than head for a lesser role on a contender.
The Spurs still haven't moved Chris Paul to the bench
Paul has started all 52 games for the Spurs so far this season, having undoubtedly proven a valuable asset for Victor Wembanyama and the rest of the franchise's young players. However, San Antonio took a different approach just before the trade deadline, seemingly announcing their intentions to enter more of a 'win-now' mode by acquiring De'Aaron Fox from the Sacramento Kings.
But instead of realizing like the Warriors did that Paul should take a backseat to a younger All-Star level point guard, the Spurs have chosen to retain the 39-year-old in the starting lineup alongside Fox in the back court.
This decision has led to a raft of condemnation around the league, particularly when starting Paul is also coming at the expense of exciting young guard Stephon Castle who's expected to be Fox's long-term back court partner.
The Spurs lineups are a joke.
— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) February 13, 2025
After adding De’Aaron Fox 93-year-old Chris Paul is still starting with Stephon Castle receiving even less playing time despite outperforming CP3 by A LOT.
This is the choice of a team that doesn’t actually want to make the playoffs. A quiet tank.
Current interim head coach Mitch Johnson has said that the franchise will take the All-Star break as an opportunity to re-evaluate lineups, but even Air Alamo's Jahlil Williams isn't having a bar of that in an article on Thursday.
"It sounds like lip service. You shouldn't need the All-Star break to see that Stephon Castle should be starting next to De'Aaron Fox. We knew that from the very beginning," Williams wrote.
The Spurs were seen as a legitimate threat to surge up into the Play-In Tournament in the wake of the Fox trade, but have won just two of five games since his arrival and just three of their last 11 games overall.
San Antonio is 12th in the Western Conference standings with a 23-29 record, placing them three games back from Golden State who are clinging onto 10th heading into the All-Star break.