Steve Kerr and the Golden State Warriors are preparing to welcome back Chris Paul, their old opponent and new point guard. But he hasn’t forgotten how much he and the rest of the crew despised CP3.
“We all hated him!” exclaimed Kerr during an appearance on “NBA Today.” While Kerr was not yet a coach when the Warriors first faced Paul and the Clippers in an emotional first-round series in 2014, he did meet Paul as a Houston Rocket in two similarly stressful series in 2018 and 2019.
“One of the funny things about this league is that you compete against people,” Kerr explained to Malika Andrews and Ramona Shelburne. “Especially if you see them repeatedly, as we did with Chris in Houston.” Then, all of a sudden, you’re teammates or coaching someone.”
According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, the Warriors celebrated their defeat in Houston in 2019 “as if they had won the Western Conference for the first time,” despite the fact that it was only the second round. To be fair, they were in the conference finals against the Portland Trail Blazers, thus they had effectively clinched the West at that time.
Windhorst also stated that as the Warriors made their way to the visitors locker room in Houston, they chanted, “F—- Chris Paul!” Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Kevon Looney are still with the Warriors in 2023.
Kerr and Paul had their own spat when Kerr made a joke about his travels and Paul responded with a phony laugh that spawned a thousand memes.
Kerr linked his feelings toward Paul to his feelings about Indiana’s Reggie Miller. Not only did Kerr have to compete against Miller in college, when Kerr was at Arizona and Miller was at UCLA, but they also met when Kerr was with the Chicago Bulls and Miller was with the Indiana Pacers.
“I used to despise Reggie. “Oh my God,” Kerr exclaimed. Miller has to be one of the few NBA players who was as obnoxious as Paul for so long. Kerr, on the other hand, sees hope based on his current relationship with Miller.
“Then we became broadcast partners, and he became a great friend,” he went on to say. “I have a feeling that’s how it’ll be with Chris.” We all despised him since we were rivals and he was so excellent. And he’s now our guy, and we adore him.”
“We” may or may not include Draymond Green, who discussed Paul on “The Pat Bev Podcast.”
“There’s no sugarcoating what has happened all these years, this is real life,” Draymond stated. “I’ve previously stated that I dislike Chris. I’m not going to say, “That changed now because he’s my teammate.” No.”
Granted, Green has won rings with players he dislikes in the past, including current rivals Jordan Poole and Harrison Barnes. But it’s not the same as Kerr’s perspective. Don’t expect Green to pretend to chuckle with CP3.
In discussing Green, Paul took a more polite approach.
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“I feel sorry for the other teams that have to play against us,” Paul said of Green. “He’s always been very vocal, as I am, and I’ve always thrived with guys like that.”
“Vocal” is a pretty polite way to describe Green’s and Paul’s on-court manner. However, Paul’s words are encouraging, as is one key truth about the new Warrior: CP3 nearly never appears on podcasts.
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