Chris Paul's OKC Renaissance
The Lead
Audible
3.7 • 2.1K Ratings
🗓️ 3 March 2020
⏱️ 28 minutes
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Summary
When the Oklahoma City Thunder traded away Russell Westbrook and Paul George, the basketball world more or less left them for dead. A lot of people also thought there was no way Chris Paul — sent to OKC in the Westbrook trade — would ever stay. But the Thunder are well on their way to a playoff berth, with CP3 at the center of it. Today, Erik Horne of The Athletic joins us to talk about how the Thunder have defied expectations, and how Paul, at age 34, is showing everyone he has a lot left.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Last summer, after Oklahoma City traded away their two franchise players, the basketball |
| 0:11.4 | world basically left the Thunder for dead. |
| 0:14.1 | I think the Thunder fanbase is looking at this upcoming season and saying, we're going |
| 0:20.7 | to be left out. |
| 0:21.7 | We're not in that conversation. |
| 0:22.7 | That's not because, I mean, the Thunder are going to be terrible this year. |
| 0:25.2 | They're going to be a bottom five team in the NBA. |
| 0:27.3 | They might be competing with the Charlotte Hornets as the NBA's worst team. |
| 0:31.1 | And many also thought that veteran superstar Chris Paul, who was traded to OKC, would |
| 0:37.4 | never stay. |
| 0:38.4 | When I saw this deal the other day, my immediate thought was, there's no way Chris Paul |
| 0:42.3 | ever plays a game for Oklahoma City. |
| 0:44.1 | Do I have that wrong? |
| 0:46.0 | But the Thunder are well on their way to a playoff birth and Chris Paul has been at |
| 0:50.7 | the heart of their success. |
| 0:53.0 | Today, the Athletics Eric Horn joins us to talk about how the Thunder have defied expectations |
| 0:59.0 | and how CP3 is reminding everyone that at age 34, he still has a whole lot left. |
| 1:05.7 | You know, just talking to his family and just talking to him, he just wants to hoop. |
| 1:10.7 | No matter where it is. |
| 1:15.5 | From Wondering in the Athletic, I'm Anders Kaltow. |
| 1:17.9 | And I'm Kavitha Davidson. |
| 1:19.4 | This Tuesday, March 3rd, and this is The Lead. |
... |
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