Report: ‘Increasing expectation’ Chris Paul starts next season with Thunder

Chris-Paul

Houston Rockets point guard Chris Paul. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)

It appears Chris Paul may still be on the Oklahoma City Thunder‘s roster when the regular season gets underway.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, discussions surrounding a potential Paul trade “are parked” and there is an “increasing expectation” the 34-year-old point guard will start next season in Oklahoma City.

The Thunder and Paul’s representatives have been working on finding a trade destination, but nothing has materialized yet weeks into free agency, Wojnarowski added.

Paul was traded to the Thunder on July 11 as part of the blockbuster deal that landed Russell Westbrook with the Houston Rockets.

Finding another trade partner that’s able to acquire Paul’s expensive contract would prove challenging since the floor general is owed $38,506,482 next season, and $41,358,814 for the 2020-21 campaign. But as Wojnarowski mentions, the market for Paul could grow after Dec. 15, the date when players who signed free-agent contracts this past off-season become eligible to be included in trade packages.

In 58 regular-season games with the Rockets last season, Paul averaged 15.6 points, 8.2 assists and 4.6 rebounds.

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