---

文章相當長，ChatGPT翻譯+手動潤稿。
簡單講，CP3就是個砸念的阿嬤，然後又公然挑戰教練團，球隊受不了了。

https://tinyurl.com/mr2fp6kv

2025/12/16 07:00 AM ET

THE WIRELESS INTERNET worked well on the private plane Chris Paul flew in
from Atlanta to Los Angeles the morning after he was unceremoniously sent
home and into an uncertain basketball future.

Chris Paul 在被毫不留情地送回家、未來充滿不確定性的隔天早上，搭乘私人飛機從亞
特蘭大飛回洛杉磯。幸好，飛機上的無線網路運作得相當順暢。

Only a few hours had passed since LA Clippers president Lawrence Frank
informed Paul that the organization was parting ways with the best player in
franchise history -- just 21 games into what was supposed to be a karmically
and narratively pleasing retirement tour. Instead, the season had devolved
into disaster, for the 40-year-old future Hall of Fame point guard and for
the team. LA was 5-16 and 14th in the Western Conference.


名人堂等級的控球後衛而言如此，對球隊亦然。快艇戰績 5 勝 16 敗，西區排名第14。

Confusion bubbled across the league. What was so bad that the Clippers needed
to urgently send Paul home from a road trip in the middle of the night? What
had gone so wrong so quickly that the team couldn't wait one more week to
make this move at home?



The move bewildered many in the NBA, including a man Paul had barely spoken
to since the two led the Lob City Clippers, an era that had ended in 2017.

這個決定讓許多 NBA 圈內人士感到錯愕，其中也包括一名 Paul 幾乎多年未曾交談過的
人，自從他們一同領軍的「Lob City」快艇時代在 2017 年結束之後。

Blake Griffin's relationship with Paul was frosty at the best of times. But
over the past few years there had been signs of it thawing. Nice comments
about each other through the media. Griffin even contributed to a tribute
video when Paul moved up to second on the NBA's career assists leaderboard
last season.



Griffin sent a text to Paul that morning as he flew home. He knew he might be
the only person who could really understand what Paul had experienced: a cold
dismissal by a franchise that had once celebrated him too. Paul called Griffin
as soon as his plane landed. Via FaceTime, they added the third co-star of Lob
City, DeAndre Jordan.



It marked the first time the three had been together in eight years, not
since their Clippers era ended with Paul being dealt to Houston and Griffin's
shocking trade to Detroit just six months after he had signed a maximum
contract extension.

這是三人睽違八年首次同框，自從快艇時代結束以來， Paul 被交易到休士頓，而
Griffin 在剛簽下頂薪延長合約僅六個月後，就震撼性地被送往底特律。

The irony that this trauma bonding buried whatever had been between them all
these years was not lost on any of them. Paul posted a screenshot of the
FaceTime on Instagram showing all three former Clippers smiling. They laughed
at the absurdity of it all.



Griffin has retired and moved on to a thriving career in television. Jordan
is winding down his career at the end of the bench for the woeful New Orleans
Pelicans. Paul had thought he was doing the same with the Clippers until the
night before, when Frank told him that the decision to send him packing had
already been made and that none of his arguments to stay mattered anymore. It
was a nice story until it wasn't.



What transpired instead was a toxic combination of miscalculations,
miscommunication and shocking underperformance from a team many had picked as
a dark horse in the loaded Western Conference.

取而代之的是一場由錯誤判斷、溝通失靈，以及令人震驚的低迷表現交織而成的有毒組
合，而這支球隊原本被許多人視為競爭激烈的西區中的黑馬。

Everyone went in with good intentions: an opinionated future Hall of Fame
player at the end of his career hoping for one final ride with his former
team; that team, which is near the end of its largely disappointing, hugely
pressurized Kawhi Leonard experiment -- which has resulted in exactly one
conference finals appearance in six seasons -- hoping its former front man
could address a leadership vacuum it has struggled to fill.

所有人一開始都是出於善意：一位個性鮮明、即將進入名人堂的老將，希望能在生涯終點
與老東家再拚最後一程；而那支球隊，正處於備受壓力、成果多半令人失望的 Kawhi
Leonard 實驗尾聲——六個賽季只換來一次分區決賽——寄望這位昔日門面人物能填補他
們長期無法解決的領導真空。

But endings are rarely clean or painless in the NBA. And this one -- for
player and team -- was born out of the most flammable combination in sports:
misconceptions and dysfunction. The Chris Paul reunion in Los Angeles was more
than simply doomed from nearly the beginning; it might also serve as
foreshadowing of a future for the Clippers even more challenging than their
present.



THE CALL WITH Paul, Griffin and Jordan lasted about 90 minutes, according to
multiple sources with knowledge of the conversation, mostly because it took
Paul that long to try to make sense of the events that led the Clippers to
discard him.

根據多位知情消息人士透露，Paul、Griffin 與 Jordan 之間的那通電話大約持續了 90
分鐘，Paul 花了這麼多時間是為了理解，究竟發生了什麼事才會讓快艇決定拋棄他。

There were a few arguments with head coach Tyronn Lue and especially
associate head coach Jeff Van Gundy. There had also been multiple meetings
with Frank about being more positive and not engaging in activities the
organization perceived as "divisive."



"There really wasn't one thing," said one source close to the situation.
"This isn't like JR Smith throwing the soup in Cleveland."

「這真的不是某一次單一事件，」一位接近內情的消息人士說。「這不像 JR Smith 當年
在克里夫蘭把湯灑掉那種明確的導火線。」

But there was a wild divergence in expectations of what Paul's role on the
team would be when he signed as a free agent on a one-year, $3.6 million
contract this summer, multiple sources said. The team envisioned Paul's role
as an end-of-the-bench, veteran leader who needed little maintenance, sources
said.



As brilliant as stars James Harden and Leonard can be on the court -- both
are generally well-liked by teammates and respected -- neither has ever been
regarded as a vocal leader. No one on the current Clippers roster fits that
description except Paul, which seemed to be part of the appeal of signing him.



In the release announcing Paul's signing, Frank said Paul would play a
"reserve" role. Multiple sources said Frank described Paul's role as very
limited to multiple players who were concerned about how Paul's presence
might affect their own roles.

在宣布簽下 Paul 的新聞稿中，Frank 表示 Paul 將擔任「替補」角色。多位消息人士指
出，Frank 曾向多名擔心 Paul 會影響自身定位的球員指出 Paul 的角色將非常有限。

Over the course of several discussions during the summer, Paul, who started
82 games last season for the San Antonio Spurs, had said he was OK with the
outlines of that role, sources said. But he had also stressed that he wanted
a chance to compete and that he'd do the best he could to be an extension of
the coaching staff.



The reunion began with alignment. Paul flew to Phoenix directly from Carmelo
Anthony's Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Springfield, Massachusetts, to
attend an offseason camp with Harden and other teammates, sources said. Once
he returned to L.A., he invited players to his workouts and to his suite at
SoFi Stadium to watch Los Angeles Rams games.



At media day, Paul was put forth as a credible voice as the franchise dealt
with the fallout from a salary-cap-circumvention investigation. It was
precisely the type of role it seemed he'd been brought back to play.

在媒體日上，Paul 被推出來作為一名值得信賴的代表人物，協助球團面對規避薪資上限
調查所引發的後續風波。那正是他看起來被重新簽回來所要扮演的角色。

But once Paul began playing it, the Clippers seemed to recoil. When he
offered suggestions to a player about training methods, he was warned not to
undermine the staff, sources said. When he'd challenge players on or off the
court, or tell them how to run a play, there were complaints from players and
coaches that he was abrasive.



"That's how Chris is," one executive with another team said. "He wears you
out. He's convinced he's right -- and he often is right, which kind of pisses
you off -- and he'll go around to everyone until you agree with him."



All this became even more pronounced in training camp, as Paul quickly became
a standout as the leader of the second unit, which was routinely beating the
starters.

這一切在訓練營期間變得更加明顯。Paul 很快成為第二陣容的領袖，而這套陣容經常擊
敗先發球員。

"We were kicking their ass," forward John Collins recently told ESPN. "Every
day, we were kicking [the starters'] ass."

「我們真的把他們打爆了，」前鋒 John Collins 近日告訴 ESPN。「每天我們都在痛宰
（先發陣容）。」

Paul played 19 minutes a game during the preseason, averaging 8.3 points and
5.3 assists. It was a much heartier role than had been discussed in the
summer.

Paul 在季前賽平均每場上場 19 分鐘，繳出 8.3 分、5.3 次助攻的成績。這個角色份量
遠比夏天討論時要吃重得多。

"I think that's where Ty went wrong," said one source close to the situation,
"because that really empowered Chris and changed the expectations."

「我覺得 Ty 就是從這裡開始走錯的，」一位接近內情的消息人士說，「因為那真的賦予
了 Chris 更大的權力，也改變了大家對他的期待。」

Lue liked Paul's competitive spirit, and he played well in the time he was
given. And the team needed him with Leonard, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Bradley
Beal nursing injuries coming into the season. It was then, multiple sources
said, that the schism began to develop.



"If all they wanted was a cheerleader," the executive said, "why did they
sign Chris Paul? I mean, they had him before. They knew what he was like."

「如果他們只是想要一個啦啦隊，」那名高層主管說，「那為什麼要簽 Chris Paul？
我是說，他們以前就擁有過他，他們很清楚他是什麼樣的人。」

AFTER THE TEAM was blown out in its season opener against the Utah Jazz,
sources said Paul attempted to get players to talk about the loss as they
came into the locker room.

在球隊於開幕戰被猶他爵士痛擊之後，Paul 試圖在球員走進休息室時拉著大家一起討論
這場失利。

It was the kind of thing Paul would routinely do on other teams. But the
Clippers' locker room, full of veteran players and coaches, is not
particularly active, even after wins, sources said. So Paul's attempt to
encourage dialogue fell flat.

這類事情 Paul 在其他球隊時經常做，但快艇的休息室裡充滿資深球員與教練，即使在
贏球之後氣氛也不算熱絡，因此 Paul 試圖促進對話的努力並未奏效。

A few nights later, after a win over New Orleans, Paul and his wife hosted a
Halloween party for players and staffers in a club at the Intuit Dome. It was
meant as a culture-building exercise, and afterward Frank and others
commended Paul for doing it, despite only a handful of players attending,
sources said.



Then the Clippers didn't win a game for almost two weeks.

接著，快艇將近兩個星期一勝難求。

Three of those losses (two against the Phoenix Suns, one against the Oklahoma
City Thunder) came against teams Paul had recently played for, and at one
point, sources said, he asked a member of the coaching staff why he hadn't
been consulted on how those teams -- and particularly their star players,
Devin Booker and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander -- operate.



The question, or perhaps its delivery, was not thought to be constructive,
sources said.

這個問題，或是他提出問題的方式，被認為並不具建設性。

Paul was benched for the second half of a game in Phoenix on Nov. 6, despite
both Harden and Leonard being out of the lineup that night. The next morning,
Paul went to the facility early to get in a workout.

11 月 6 日在鳳凰城的比賽中，Paul 在下半場被冰在板凳上，儘管當晚 Harden 與
Leonard 都未列入出賽名單。隔天早上，Paul 提早前往球隊訓練基地進行訓練。

The first person he encountered was Frank, and the two agreed to talk. During
the meeting, sources said Paul raised concerns about the team's culture --
noting the lack of conversation in the group text chat and the lack of time
the players spent together off the court.

他遇到的第一個人是 Frank，兩人隨即同意談一談。在會談中，Paul 表達了對球隊文化
的憂慮，包括群組簡訊聊天室缺乏互動，以及球員在場下相處時間不足。

Frank, for his part, stressed that Paul's style wasn't in line with what they
needed it to be -- that his leadership was being perceived as subversive
rather than helpful.

Frank 則強調，Paul 的行事風格並不符合球隊的需求——他的領導方式正被視為在暗中
破壞，而非真正提供幫助。

Later that day, Paul and Lue talked on the phone for 40 minutes. It was their
final substantive conversation before Paul was sent home nearly a month
later, on Dec. 2. (Every other interaction was short or via text, sources
said).



The call began with Paul asking Lue why he'd been benched for the second half
of the Clippers' game the night before, a game in which the Clippers led by
three points at the half only to lose by 13.

這通電話一開始，Paul 詢問 Lue 為何他在前一晚的比賽中，下半場被棄用。那場比賽快
艇在半場還領先 3 分，最終卻以 13 分之差落敗。

Paul suggested having a meeting among team leaders and holding more practices
on off days.

Paul 建議召集球隊領袖開會，並在休兵日安排更多訓練。

Lue told Paul he was coming across as too critical of players and coaches and
needed to understand -- and own up to that.

Lue 告訴 Paul，他對球員與教練的批評顯得過於嚴苛，他必須理解並承認這一點。

A call that was meant to resolve festering issues and clarify roles
ultimately did neither. Later that day, Lue informed Paul he would not be in
the rotation for the next game.

這通原本是為了解決長期積壓問題、釐清角色的電話最終兩頭空。當天稍晚，Lue 通知
Paul，下一場比賽他將不會進入輪替陣容。

He did not elaborate, but with the team struggling defensively -- LA's
top-five defense from a season ago had struggled against younger, faster
offenses -- something had to be done to change the dynamic.

Lue 並未多作說明，但在球隊防守表現持續掙扎的情況下——洛杉磯上季名列前五的防守
，本季卻屢屢被年輕、速度更快的進攻打穿，顯然必須做些什麼來改變球隊的運作。

The next day, Nov. 8, during the game against the Suns, tensions spread to
the bench. Paul and Van Gundy somehow found themselves shoulder to shoulder
on the bench. It was the first game of what would be five consecutive
DNP-CDs. For a long time, neither man said a word.

隔天，11 月 8 日，對太陽的比賽中緊張氣氛蔓延到了板凳席。Paul 與 Van Gundy 不
知為何肩並肩坐在一起。那是他連續五場「DNP-CD（教練決定未上場）」的第一場。很長
一段時間裡，兩人一句話也沒說。

Eventually Paul broke the awkward silence, snarkily asking Van Gundy if he
wasn't talking to him.

最終，Paul 打破了尷尬的沉默，語帶諷刺地詢問 Van Gundy 是否不打算和他說話。

Van Gundy scoffed in response, multiple sources who witnessed the exchange
said, and questioned Paul's earnestness.

多位目擊該互動的消息人士表示，Van Gundy 對此嗤之以鼻，並質疑 Paul 是否真誠。

The next day at the facility, Paul had another long meeting with Frank,
sources said. In it, he gave Paul a "final warning" about being divisive.
Paul also had another tense meeting with Van Gundy that day, trying to
resolve the previous night's exchange and other issues that had caused
friction between them.



Both meetings ended well enough that Paul asked for and was granted
permission to talk to the team. Frank also said he'd try to facilitate a
meeting with Lue. On Nov. 11, an off day after a loss to the Atlanta Hawks,
Paul stood in front of the team and apologized if he had come off as too
negative or divisive.



WHATEVER THE TENTE WAS achieved through Paul's mea culpa didn't last long.
The Clippers went just 2-13 in November, continuing to lose even after Paul
returned to the rotation and Leonard returned from a foot injury.

無論 Paul 透過道歉所換來的任何短暫停戰，都沒有維持太久。快艇在 11 月僅拿下 2
勝 13 敗；即便 Paul 回到輪換陣容、Leonard 也從腳傷中復出，球隊仍舊持續輸球。

During that stretch, on Nov. 22, Paul announced this would be his final year
-- officially turning the rest of this season into a retirement tour. He had
tried to inform team owner Steve Ballmer of his impending decision before he
announced anything, but sources said they didn't connect until afterward and
that conversation ended up being their final one.



The Clippers wanted to honor him with a tribute video, but Paul told them it
was the wrong message to highlight in the middle of a losing streak. So on
Nov. 28, before what would prove to be the third to last game of his time
with the Clippers, the team released a video.



The caption said Paul would "end his Hall of Fame career at home." It took less
than four days for that to prove false. On Nov. 30, tensions between Paul and
Van Gundy came to a head on the team's flight to Miami.



Van Gundy had been upset the night before that Paul had openly questioned how
the coaching staff had used Leonard's limited minutes toward the end of the
team's loss to the Dallas Mavericks, their seventh in eight games. Leonard
was coming off a minutes restriction and was defending a red-hot Klay
Thompson, known for his movement without the ball. That took a lot of energy,
Paul had argued.



Van Gundy accused Paul of changing the coverage without approval. Paul
responded that he had only "suggested" switching Leonard's defensive assignment
because he had bumped up against his minutes restriction.

Van Gundy 指控 Paul 未經許可就改變了防守策略。Paul 則回應他只是「建議」調整
Leonard 的防守對位，因為 Leonard 已接近上場時間限制。

To prove his point, Paul stood up and walked down the aisle of the plane to
Leonard and Kris Dunn and asked them whether he had suggested a change or
actually changed the coverage, multiple sources who witnessed the interaction
said.

為了證明自己的說法，Paul 走向 Leonard 與 Kris Dunn，直接問他們自己是提出建議，
還是真的改變了防守。

Both players affirmed that he had suggested it, sources said. The interaction
was brought up again to other players on the team during the flight, and
sources said that subsequently got back to the coaching staff and front
office.

他們都說 Paul 只是提出建議，這段互動後來還提及其他球員，最終傳到教練團與管理層
耳中。

That night, the team decided it had finally had enough. "He was a pain in the
ass when he was a great player," another executive with a different team said.
 "And now he's not a great player."

球隊覺得受夠了。「他在巔峰時期就是個麻煩人物，」另一支球隊的高層說，「而現在，
他已經不再是那樣的球員了。」

Frank wanted to deliver the news to Paul in person, which meant he had to
either tell him Monday before the team's game against the Heat or Tuesday in
Atlanta.

Frank 希望親自向 Paul 傳達這個消息，這表示他必須在週一對熱火的比賽前，或週二在
亞特蘭大告訴他。

Frank chose Atlanta, but the meeting got pushed back because the team's
flight out of Miami was delayed by six hours, after another loss. Around 11
p.m., inside Frank's hotel room at the Four Seasons, he told Paul of the
team's plans to send Paul home, adding that he hoped to work with Paul on how
the statement would be announced and that he hoped the team could still
retire Paul's jersey one day, sources said.



Paul was stunned, sources said, and tried to plead his case. At one point, he
brought teammate Brook Lopez into the room as something of a character
witness.

Paul 當場感到震驚，並試圖為自己辯解。他一度把隊友 Brook Lopez 帶進房間，希望作
為品格上的證人。

Lopez and Leonard were Paul's most ardent supporters on the team, sources
said. Paul reminded Frank that he had asked him to facilitate another meeting
with Lue and that hadn't happened. Frank acknowledged that but held firm. The
decision had been made. With that, it was over.



In the days since, Paul has been home, waiting for the team to trade him or
buy him out. He's working out at the team's old facility in Playa Vista,
which, sources said, was recently acquired by the NBA Players Association, of
which Paul was president from 2013 to 2021. He attended the NBA Cup
semifinals game between the Spurs and Thunder, two of his former teams.

在那之後的幾天裡，Paul 一直待在家中，等待球隊將他交易或買斷。他在 Playa Vista
的球隊舊訓練基地進行訓練；該設施近期已被 NBA 球員工會收購，而 Paul 曾在 2013 年
至 2021 年間擔任球員工會主席。他也到場觀看了馬刺對雷霆的 NBA 盃四強賽，這兩支都
是他過去效力過的球隊。

While the conversation around his departure has died down, the question of
why the team exposed itself to criticism by the timing and fashion in which
it did it remains.

儘管外界對他離隊的討論逐漸平息，但球隊為何選擇以這樣的時機與方式行事、讓自己暴
露在批評之中，這個問題仍然存在。

"I don't even like him that much," said one source close to a current
Clippers player. "But this isn't a G League guy. This is Chris Paul. There's
ways to do it where he can save a little face."

「說實話，我也沒那麼喜歡他，」一位接近現役快艇球員的消息人士說。「但他不是什
麼 G 聯盟球員，他是 Chris Paul。處理這件事其實有方式，至少能讓他有點面子。」

The Clippers won their first game they played without Paul, a 115-92 win over
the Hawks. But then dropped three in a row to the Grizzlies, Timberwolves and
Rockets. On Monday at home, they lost to the Grizzlies 121-103, falling to
6-20. On Thursday, they'll play the 24-2 Thunder, the league's best team.



Games against the Thunder always stir talk about the trade that sent each
franchise in wildly different directions. Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning
regular-season MVP and Finals MVP, used to be a Clipper. Jalen Williams, the
Thunder's All-NBA swingman, was drafted with a pick that was acquired from
the Clippers in the ill-fated trade for Paul George in 2019.



And of course, the Clippers' pick in the 2026 draft is unprotected and owed
to the Thunder as part of that deal. Which means each loss this season
increases the chances that, after 14 straight seasons of winning records, LA
could be sending a high lottery pick to the reigning champions.



There is no easy way to swallow that. There's also no easy way out of the
Clippers' current predicament, with two aging superstars trying to rally a
roster that is older, slower and overmatched most nights. The team believes
its recent improvement on defense will generate more wins in the near future.
But mostly the biggest difference after Paul was sent home is how much
quieter things are.
.


"He's intense, man," Collins said. "He's a leader. Somebody that wants the
best for everybody. Somebody that wanted greatness, and that's what he
demands. "It's definitely a lot quieter without him here."

「他真的很強勢，」Collins 說。「他是個領袖，是那種希望所有人都變得更好的人，是
追求偉大、也要求別人同樣如此的人。沒有他在，真的安靜很多。」

It's quieter in Paul's world too. Many of his teammates sent messages of
support to him afterward. Leonard, in particular, has stayed in close touch.
But he hasn't heard from any of the men who decided to send him away. Not
Ballmer or Van Gundy. Not Frank or Lue.

Paul 的世界也同樣變得安靜。事後許多隊友都傳訊息表達支持，尤其是 Leonard 一直與
他保持密切聯繫。但那些做出將他送走決定的人，他一個都沒有收到消息，不論是
Ballmer、Van Gundy，還是 Frank 與 Lue。

At a Clippers practice last week, Lue was asked why he hadn't reached out to
his former point guard. Lue responded bluntly. "Yeah, well, he hasn't called
me either."

在快艇上週的一次訓練後，Lue 被問到，為何沒有主動聯絡這位前控球後衛。Lue 的回答
相當直接：「對啊，但他也沒有打給我。」

--
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc), 來自: 111.71.213.210 (臺灣)
※ 作者: YesBros 2025-12-17 09:42:44
※ 文章代碼(AID): #1fGWgMqB (NBA)
※ 文章網址: https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/NBA/M.1765935766.A.D0B.html