When Chris Paul assumed the mantle of the NBPA's presidency, a new era was sworn into existence. At times perceived to be a tetchy character, both on and off the court, Chris Paul's reputation as a leader wherever he ventures in the NBA, dating back to his rookie campaign with the defunct New Orleans/Oklahoma City Pelicans.
With his desired move out of Oklahoma squarely on the back burner, Chris Paul has all the time in the world to reflect on his career-to-date and the ways with which his hard-nosed approach to the game attitude has affected "team morale" in previous campaigns. Surely, he's not at the point of his NBA career in which a complete retrospective would be required of him.
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The Rockets' failure to unseat the Golden State Warriors in consecutive years, doesn't solely fall on his shoulders, but rather the tough task of keeping NBA egos in check. In a recent interview exchange with Clevis Murray of The Athletic, Chris Paul highlighted "money" as a taboo subject in NBA locker rooms, and more importantly: the root cause of dysfunction amongst high-profile players like James Harden and himself.
"I think the reason why I'm so passionate about this is because I'm finishing up my 14th year in the NBA, and I've been around long enough to realize that guys in our league, we talk about everything in the locker room except for finance, except for money," Paul told Murray. "Nobody talks about money, because it's one of those uncomfortable things."
Chris Paul hopes to wield his leadership platform to positive results within the NBA community, with the hush culture surrounding compensation his chief concern. Check out the rest of Clevis Murray's op-ed right here.