Nobody expected the Chris Paul news to drop the way it did yesterday. The LA Clippers’ waiving the guard late at night sent shockwaves across the league, blindsiding everyone, even those close to the situation. A franchise legend cut loose after signing a modest veteran deal meant to close the loop on his run doesn’t make for good optics.

Now, something else has surfaced, changing the tone immediately. A screenshot posted to Paul’s Instagram story revealed the Point God smiling with two former teammates: DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin. This trio, which defined the most electrifying era in Clippers history, was reunited once more, and the moment immediately reignited discussion about what could have been.

For a team that lived in headlines and tension for six straight years, that image said more than any press conference, mainly because the end of Lob City wasn’t clean, and everybody in the league knew it.

Reports have circulated for years about the friction between Paul and Griffin, especially during their Clippers years. Even former teammates have come forward about their dynamic, including guard Austin Rivers, who, as early as 2017, indicated that significant friction existed behind the scenes.

“The dynamic with Blake and Chris was weird,” Rivers told Sports Illustrated. “No one knew who the leader was, and if you had something to say, it would turn into an argument.”

However, in the years since, both Paul and Griffin have spoken about their improved relationship. Paul told All The Smoke hosts and former teammates Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson that he appreciated Griffin a lot more after Paul left the team.

“I think a lot of that with our team was a little blown out of proportion,” Griffin told reporters in 2022. “When you don’t win, things sort of get compounded… Obviously, we spent a lot of time together.”

The two reuniting on a video call the same night the Clippers moved on from the face of that era feels symbolic. The moment we saw was three teammates looking back at not what separated them, but what built them: the hope, the culture, and the highlights.

Lob City might have fallen short, but what they created changed LA basketball forever.

Fans Show Love to Chris Paul and Blake Griffin’s Lob City Reunion

Social media wasted no time exploding as screenshots of Chris Paul’s story were posted online. For many long-time Clippers fans, seeing the trio that put them on the map smiling together once again felt like closure to a decades long storyline. One fan wrote, “Our inner child is healing,” capturing the nostalgia flooding posts and timelines when the image surfaced.

Others leaned into humor and speculation about the team’s breakup. One comment read, “They were united by their hate for the organization 💀💀💀,” a playful jab at the well-documented circumstances of both Paul and Griffin’s exits from the organization.

Paul demanded a trade from the team in the 2017 offseason after years of failing to make deep playoff runs as his and Griffin’s supposed beef boiled over, joining the Houston Rockets.

Griffin’s was far more egregious; after a receiving a five-year contract in the offseason as a part of a two-hour celebration in Staples Center in the celebration of his career, the team unceremoniously traded him midseason to the Detroit Pistons.

There was also surprise over how time has changed circumstances around the trio. “Who would’ve thought DeAndre Jordan would be the last one standing,” one viewer wrote, pointing out the absurdity of DeAndre Jordan still finding a spot with the New Orleans Pelicans, compared to Griffin, who now works as an analyst for Prime Video.

Nostalgia poured in as users recalled the chaotic joy of the Lob City era. “Great to see and miss this Fun 3! Clippers use to be such a trip to watch,” one observer wrote, remembering how, in the early to mid 2010s, the dominant LA team was not the Los Angeles Lakers, but the ‘little brother’ Clippers.

Naturally, regret surfaced: what could have been. “They was posed to win it all man😔,” one post read, highlighting the heartbreak that still lingers around a team widely believed to have championship talent, but not the luck, or chemistry, to finish the job.