The free market in 2024 is officially opened.
As in previous years, the first 24 hours of signing continued, according to statistics, in less than 5 hours, 23 free agents have reached new contracts, with a total amount of up to $1.2 billion, which is not counting George, DeRozan, Thompson and others, which is quite crazy.
Among them, Paul's movements are very noteworthy.
At the last moment before the free agency market opened, the Warriors officially announced the elimination of Paul, Paul's salary for next season was supposed to be $30 million, but because the contract is not guaranteed, the Warriors do not need to pay any salary to cut him.
The move also announced the collapse of last year's trade, when the Warriors sent Poole, Patrick Baldwin Jr., Rollins, a 2027 second-round pick and a 2030 first-round pick (top-20 pick protected) to get Paul, but Paul only played one season and the Warriors did not make the playoffs.
And immediately after Paul was cut, it was reported that many teams were interested in signing Paul, including the Lakers, but the Lakers were only willing to provide a base salary, and in the end, the Spurs offered a one-year, 11 million contract, bringing him to San Antonio.
Paul + Wembanyama? This combination can be said to be quite interesting.
Let's talk about Wembanyama first, an absolutely historical-level talent, in the first year of his career, he averaged 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 3.6 blocks per game, not only was he elected as the best rookie and block king, but also selected for the best defensive team for a while, and ranked second in the DPOY selection, note that Wembanyama only played less than 30 minutes.
Wembanyama is currently 20 years old, and he will certainly continue to improve next season, and even hope to directly break into the top 10 in the league, but from the perspective of his rookie season, he has been lacking a point guard who can pass the ball for him, so Paul came.
Although Chris Paul has not won a championship, his ability to cover the bottom line is not an exaggeration to describe it at a historical level, and several times he has joined a new team to help the new team make breakthroughs, such as after joining the Rockets in 2017, the Rockets immediately achieved the best record in team history with 65 wins and 17 losses, such as after joining the Thunder in 2019, he led the Thunder into the playoffs without being favored.
The most classic is definitely the Suns, after going to the Suns in 2020, he helped the Suns go from missing the playoffs all the way to the Finals in the first year, and led the team to the best record in team history with 64 wins and 18 losses in the second year.
Regarding the experience of the Suns, many people may say that Booker is the boss of the team, which is true, but in the first year after Paul joined, he ranked 5th in the MVP list, and Booker did not win a vote; The following year, Paul was also a top-4 MVP player, but eventually dropped to No. 9 after an injury.
Combined with the situation of the Suns after Paul left, these all show that Paul's ability to do things is real, but Paul is not young now, and from last season, Paul's magic is slowly failing.
In one season with the Warriors, Paul played in a total of 58 games, including 40 off the bench, which was the first time Paul accepted a bench role since entering the league, he averaged 26.4 minutes per game, 9.2 points, 3.9 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 1.2 steals, shooting 44.1%/37.1%/82.7% from three, and 54.4% true shooting percentage.
Although the scoring output and efficiency are not particularly good, and the mid-range ability has declined seriously compared to two years ago, Paul's passing ability is still the top in the league, and the assist ratio is as high as 41.1, ranking fourth in the league;
And his ability to control turnovers is still so "terrifying", averaging 6.8 assists per game, only 1.3 turnovers, and the assist-to-turnover ratio has reached 5.17, the highest in his career.
Although the Warriors did not enter the playoffs, the responsibility behind it must not be borne by Paul as a substitute, on the contrary, from the perspective of the whole season, Paul is still a positive effect on the Warriors, when he is on the court, the Warriors win by 2.8 points per 100 rounds, and vice versa, and when Paul is on the court, the Warriors' assist rate and assist-to-turnover ratio have improved.
There is reason to believe that Paul's addition will bring some difference to the Spurs, especially in control turnovers and three-point shooting, last season the Spurs averaged 14.6 turnovers per game, 3rd in the league, 34.7% three-point shooting, 27th in the league, and there is huge room for improvement.
But, realistically, the Spurs only won 22 games last season, and the West is now a strong player, and it is not easy to make the playoffs directly in the first year, the important thing is that from the 37th birthday night to the present, Paul's form has been declining year by year, how much magic can he have at the age of 39?
For Paul, joining the Spurs actually means giving up the championship next season, but to get the opportunity to be on the same team as Wembanyama, I believe many point guards can't refuse - it's a bit difficult for the top six to go straight to the playoffs, but it's not impossible for the top ten to rush to the play-offs, and Paul is a bit looking forward to it.