Chris Paul, American basketball player
Christopher Emmanuel Paul (born May 6, 1985), nicknamed "CP3", is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Paul is widely regarded as one of the greatest point guards of all time. He has won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, an NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award, two Olympic gold medals, and led the NBA in assists five times and steals a record six times. He has also been selected to twelve NBA All-Star teams, ten All-NBA teams, and nine NBA All-Defensive teams. In 2021, he was selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.
Paul was a McDonald's All-American in high school and attended Wake Forest University for two years of college basketball, where he helped the Demon Deacons achieve their first-ever number-one ranking. He was selected as the fourth overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft by the New Orleans Hornets, where he developed into one of the league's premier players, finishing second in NBA Most Valuable Player Award voting in 2008. During the 2011 off-season, the Hornets organized a deal to send Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers, but the transaction was controversially voided by the NBA. He was instead dealt to the Los Angeles Clippers later that year. Led by Paul's playmaking, the Clippers developed a reputation for their fast-paced offense and spectacular alley-oop dunks, earning them the nickname "Lob City." In 2017, he was traded to the Houston Rockets, where he helped the team win a franchise-record 65 games in his debut season. He played one more season in Houston before being traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder as part of a package for Russell Westbrook in 2019. With the Thunder looking to rebuild, he was traded to the Phoenix Suns in 2020, where he reached the NBA Finals for the first time in his career.
Paul served as the president of the National Basketball Players Association from August 2013 to August 2021. Among the highest-paid athletes in the world, he holds endorsement deals with companies such as Air Jordan and State Farm.