Weeks after the Los Angeles Clippers banished Chris Paul, they traded him to the Toronto Raptors right before the deadline. However, the expectation is that the Raptors will waive the veteran’s contract. For now, it looks like Paul will have an unceremonious end to his career, despite NBA legends calling out the league in the past month. Tension is building once more, this time for the Oklahoma City Thunder to step up and let Paul end his career with some respect.

“No, it really sucks. It really sucks,” former Clippers player Lou Williams said about Paul’s situation. “But again, if I’m OKC and I don’t necessarily have an appetite to play a Chris Paul, I bring him in for the morale, for the fact that what he’s done, we just talked about him, him deserving his flowers, and the places that he’s been impactful.”

Paul previously played one season with the Thunder in 2019-20. He played 70 games and helped them reach the playoffs, but they lost to the Houston Rockets in the first round.

“I would like to see that happen, obviously, I don’t know if that comes with playing time,” Williams said. “But if he’s at peace with not playing and being able to go somewhere where he can be appreciated and celebrated still, I think that’s the place to do it.”

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (then a second-year guard) and Luguentz Dort recently expressed their appreciation for Paul’s contributions to the Thunder.

The veteran played a small role in turning Gilgeous-Alexander into an MVP and Dort into a premier 3-and-D player. They used to sit with Paul and watch games on a big screen alongside Paul’s iPad and analyze them.

The reigning MVP even went on to admit that Paul was “the first person to show me what it meant to be a professional.” He was also a courtside spectator when Gilgeous-Alexander received the MVP trophy. So, it doesn’t take much to figure that Paul’s services would be appreciated if he returned to OKC.

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DeMarcus Cousins, who has previously slammed the Clippers and Tyronn Lue for sending Paul home in the middle of the season, targeted the league for disrespecting the veteran. But now, Cousins is directly confronting the league for failing to appreciate what Paul did for the game.

“I don’t think this looks good for the league, for the optics, for the next generation coming up,” Cousins said. “There should be some sort of appreciation and love for what the product brings to the game. This is a clear-cut showing of the complete opposite. I don’t like it.”

Cousins hasn’t been the biggest CP3 supporter. During his stint with the Kings, he openly criticized Paul’s style of play. But Cousins has not shied away from showing him the respect he deserves.

When NBA Commissioner Adam Silver addressed the Clippers-Paul controversy in December, his answer was more like that of a fan than of a figure who controls the league’s narratives.

Despite Cousins and Williams wanting Paul’s career to end with some dignity, a legitimate fear is now looming.

Chris Paul could never play in the NBA again

Call it disrespect or the business side of the NBA, there could very well be an unwritten agreement that Paul’s career needs a better ending. However, there’s no news on anything of that sort yet. In a career spanning two decades, he not only established himself as one of the greatest point guards in the league but also helped players develop their games. However, after the Raptors trade, here’s what insider Shams Charania is hearing about Paul’s future.

“It will not be Toronto, and I think when I talked to teams around the league, his NBA future is obviously very much in the air,” Charania told Malika Andrews on NBA Today. “It’s not certain whether he’s gonna play again in the NBA as of right now.”

We really cannot predict if any team would be open to giving Paul a chance to end his career with them. In December, Paul told People exclusively that he was at “peace with everything,” even if it meant he played a very “small role” on a team.

However, it seems like even that is proving too much to ask, isn’t it?