Skip to content

Doc on Chris Paul: 'We don't talk about him'

Scott Halleran / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Chris Paul's relationship with the Los Angeles Clippers was tenuous even when he played for them, and it doesn't seem to have improved since he forced a trade to Houston last summer.

After things got testy (to put it mildly) between the Rockets and Clippers on Monday night, head coach Doc Rivers insisted that, in spite of the emotional fracas his return helped set off, the superstar point guard is the furthest thing from the Clippers' minds.

"We didn't mention Chris today," Rivers told reporters after the Clippers' 113-102 win. "We talked about the Rockets, honestly."

It's hard to believe the Clippers could've talked about the Rockets without talking about Paul - who, with James Harden sidelined, is far and away the team's best player - but Rivers' meaning was clear: the team isn't dwelling on the past.

"Chris was great for us, but Chris decided to leave us," Rivers said. "So, he's no longer a Clipper and we don't talk about him. We talk about Blake (Griffin) and (DeAndre Jordan) and all the guys on our team. That's all we did today. We talked about the way to win the game tonight. We knew it would be an emotional game in some way, we didn't know how. But we talked about that, and said we're just going to play through the game. And I thought, overall, we did that."

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox