Chris Paul goes into COVID health and safety protocols, out indefinitely

The Phoenix Suns‘ championship hopes have taken a blow. Chris Paul has reportedly entered the league’s COVID health and safety protocols and is out indefinitely.

Shams Charania of The Athletic is reporting that Chris Paul has been entered into the NBA’s COVID health and safety protocols and is out indefinitely. It’s not clear at this point what the nature of Paul’s exposure was or whether he has been vaccinated or not, which could impact the length of time he must quarantine. There is also no word yet on whether any other players or staff members from the Phoenix Suns have been affected.

The worst-case scenario for the Suns, outside of someone actually testing positive, would be a linked exposure that requires multiple players to quarantine. The Suns have already advanced to the Western Conference semifinals and are waiting out the series between the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers, currently tied 2-2. A Game 7 in that series, if necessary, would be played on Sunday putting the beginning of the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday, at the earliest, six days from today. If either the Clippers or Jazz is able to win the next two games and finish their series early, the Western Conference Finals could conceivably start on Sunday.

Suns radio host John Gambadoro later reported that Chris Paul did test positive for COVID, but this doesn’t rule out the possibility that he was vaccinated before testing positive which could reduce his recovery time.

Can the Phoenix Suns win without Chris Paul?

Paul has been an absolute beast for the Suns during this postseason run, averaging 15.7 points, 8.7 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game on a 59.9 true shooting percentage. The Suns outscored the Lakers and Nuggets by 12.7 points per 100 possessions with Paul on the floor so far this postseason. They’ve survived when he’s been on the bench but their differential drops to plus-7.1 per 100 possessions in those minutes.

Paul is not the Suns’ best player, that honor belongs to Devin Booker. But he’s easily among their most important and in a series against the Clippers or the Jazz with their uniquely disruptive defenses, losing his shot creation would be a huge blow.

Here’s hoping everyone stays healthy and gets the all-clear as soon as possible.