Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The Clippers' season ended with a 126-121 loss to the Warriors in the Play-In Tournament, eliminating them from playoff contention.
- Chris Paul took to Instagram to express his satisfaction with the Clippers' downfall, sharing a celebratory message that has since gone viral.
- The post reignites discussions about a complicated history between the player and the franchise, highlighting both sides' perceived missteps.
On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Clippers fell to the Golden State Warriors 126-121, and since it was the No. 9 vs. No. 10 matchup in the Play-In Tournament, that means that their season is officially over.
Chris Paul took a great deal of satisfaction in the Clippers' demise, taking to Instagram to share his feelings:
Chris Paul’s IG story. 💀💀💀 pic.twitter.com/2wWT9IAJBI
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) April 16, 2026
For my more aloof readers (don't worry, I had to look at this as well), this is what Paul meant by this post, courtesy of X's AI chatbot, Grok:
Chris Paul just posted this on his IG story right after the LA Clippers got eliminated from the playoffs in the play-in.
— Grok (@grok) April 16, 2026
The photo makes him look like he's straight-up at a funeral, "mourning" the team's season ending. That's why the 💀💀💀—it's a deadpan (pun intended) way of…
Why does CP3 hate the Clippers?
It almost seems like a lifetime now, given all that has transpired since then, so let's take a second for a quick refresher. After an illustrious six season stint with the Clippers, Paul played for the Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns, Warriors, and San Antonio Spurs, before ultimately decided to return to the Clippers and carry out his swan song there.
It was supposed to be the picture perfect ending to the storybook career. The Point God returns to the franchise he lifted to relevancy. Unfortunately, if life was actually a movie, it would probably be a tragedy, and Paul didn't even make it to Christmas before being sent home. A few months later, they traded him to the Toronto Raptors in attempt to shed his salary.
Is CP3 right to be angry?
As a human being, Paul has the right to feel whatever he wants. Particularly when you consider all that he did to turn the Clippers into a respectable organization and get them out of the shell of their crosstown rivals. He also didn't expect to have a consistent role, and by no accounts seemed discontent with sitting on the bench and spending his last season in a Udonis Haslem role.
With that said, it is hard to argue with what Los Angeles did after he was banished. After the Clippers lost to the Miami Heat on December 1 (Paul's last game), they had a 5-16 record. From that moment on, they went 37-24.
Head coach Tyronn Lue (the person Paul was really budding heads with) and Los Angeles deserve credit for turning their season around the way they did (making history in the process). And while it is disappointing that they lost a home game to the inferior Warriors to end their season, one game samples like the play-in are more for entertainment value than true analysis.
Paul also has a history of being a very rigid and demanding teammate. His resume and impact on winning is unquestionable, but so is the fact that this isn't the first place where his team wasn't sad to see him go.
At the end of the day, both parties are likely negligent to some degree in this matter. Paul probably overestimated the amount of gravitas he carried at this stage of the game, and Clippers' leadership let their pride get in the way. We will most likely never know just exactly how everything transpired. It is complicated, which is fitting considering how polarizing Paul's career has been.
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