There is now a very real possibility, that truculent, cantankerous Chris Paul could be hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy in the next two weeks. Having spent way too much time watching and discussing Loki over the past five weeks while the 2021 NBA Finals takes place has led me to believe we are watching Chris Paul live out a Michael Waldron storyboard.
If there were a Time Variance Authority overseeing the 2021 NBA postseason, they would have axed our reality posthaste. Due to the nature of the NBA playoffs’ best-of-seven series format, you would be hard-pressed to find a champion as unexpected as these Phoenix Suns would be. Typically, title teams are battle-tested and led by two All-NBA stars in their prime. Except for a few exceptions, like the 2004 Detroit Pistons and the 2011 Dallas Mavericks, NBA champions rarely sneak up on you this late in the season.
They avoided the typical playoff growing pains every champion of the post-merger era, except the 1980 Lakers has had to endure. Sixteen games into the season, they were 8-8 after losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder. They are currently the first team to the make the Finals after missing the playoffs for 10 straight seasons.
However, this entire postseason has defied irrational thought. In the conference semifinals, the Atlanta Hawks, were 14-20 after firing their head coach in February, exploited Ben Simmons treating shots like an anti-vaxxer, to unceremoniously end the No. 1 seeded Philadelphia 76ers season—in a game 7 on the road. The Clippers hid in apocalyptic 2-0 series deficits before defying the odds twice.
However, Phoenix’s postseason run takes the cake. Their rapid ascent is merely the latest example of an omniscient monitor falling asleep on the job. There is possibly an alternate reality in which Paul was selected by the Hawks instead of Marvin Williams, then spent his prime alongside Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, and Al Horford. Or one in which he gets selected No. 1 overall by the Bucks over Andrew Bogut.
Paul has seemed destined to fall short of championship glory—until now. Our Variant of Chris Paul’s probably veered off-course a decade ago this December, when Commissioner David Stern altered the timeline by reversing an agreed upon trade which sent the Hornets point guard to the Lakers. Paul’s addition to a core consisting of Kobe, Pau and the last year of Andrew Bynum’s prime would have been enough to eek out at least one more title. It also may have cemented Paul’s legacy as a top-four guard in league history.
Instead, he wound up taking the scenic route through L.A.’s “Other Team,” then took a detour through Houston. Had it not been for a hamstring he tweaked in Game 5, when the Rockets took a 3-2 series lead on the Warriors, he could have won his first title during the summer of 2018.
From Katrina to, the nixed Lakers trade, Josh Smith going berserk in Game 6 of the 2015 Conference Semifinals to his 2018 Conference Finals injury, a penumbra of inauspicious events has always dimmed Paul’s career. In any other season, Paul’s positive COVID test would have put the Suns in an 0-2 hole following a lethargic Game 1 performance by the Suns and an unsuccessful Valley Oop between DeAndre Ayton and Jae Crowder.
One year ago, the Phoenix Suns went undefeated in the bubble, but were unable to qualify for the playoffs. Meanwhile, Paul valiantly led a Thunder team that was supposed to be tanking into a 7-game. Their acquisition of the 36-year-old Paul in exchange for Kelly Oubre Jr., Ricky Rubio and flotsam has taken them to stratospheres that few saw coming outside of their most fervent fans.
Of the prospective destinations for Paul, Phoenix was the least appealing. The Suns governor Robert Sarver has been considered the worst owner in the NBA since the exorcism of Donald Sterling from the Clippers franchise. He appeared to be an anachronism alongside Devin Booker and DeAndre Ayton. Prior to his resurgent season in Oklahoma City, there was a belief that he was in an accelerated decline.
It appeared to be nothing more than a desperation maneuver to improve the culture by making the playoffs and winning a first round series than one that would alter the course of modern NBA history.
Instead, Variant Paul has flourished and served as a catalyst for the franchise’s first NBA Finals appearance in nearly 30 years. He is averaging more assists per game in any season since 2017 and career-highs in field goal percentage. In Game 1, he continued making hapless defenders dance like they have two left feet, splashing deadeye triples and steering around the court with the fresh wheels of a player 10 years younger. Paul assisted or scored on 54 points, the third most in a player’s Finals debut behind Michael Jordan’s 60 points in 1991 and Allen Iverson’s 61 in 2001.
In Game 2, Paul delivered 23 points on 10-of-20 shooting, along with eight assists. In his last 3 games, beginning with Game 6 of the Conference Finals, he is drilling 14 of his 20 behind the arc.
During a season in which the Jazz secured the No.1 seed by draining more 3-pointers per game than any team in league history, the Suns attempted midrange shots at a higher rate than all but three teams. Of course, their midrange proficiency will be difficult to replicate. Their 47.2% shooting on midrange shots led the entire NBA. Then, in Game 2, they made 20 3-pointers, one shy of the NFL record, and half of their attempts.
The stars have aligned at the perfect time, but for this timeline to reach a point of no return, he will have to continue this barrage in Game 3 in Milwaukee. It will undoubtedly be the most important game of his entire NBA career.
