Chris Paul’s career has come to an end.
The 12-time All-Star point guard announced his retirement Friday after 21 seasons in the NBA.
Paul had previously said this would be his final season, but his last game came a few months earlier than expected after his reunion with the Los Angeles Clippers was cut short.
“This is it!” Paul wrote on Instagram.
“While this chapter of being an ‘NBA player’ is done, the game of basketball will forever be [ingrained] in the DNA of my life.”
Paul, 40, averaged 16.8 points, 9.2 assists and 2.0 steals per game over his career with the New Orleans Hornets, Clippers, Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs from 2005-26.
He ranks second in NBA history in assists (12,552) and steals (2,728), trailing only John Stockton in both categories.
Paul signed a one-year contract with the Clippers last offseason, reuniting him with the team on which he delivered some of his best seasons from 2011-17.
But Paul announced in early December that he and the Clippers had parted ways, writing on Instagram in the middle of the night, “Just found out I’m being sent home.”
A Dec. 1 loss in Miami proved to be Paul’s final game, with ESPN reporting the veteran’s vocal leadership style had clashed with head coach Ty Lue and that the pair were not on speaking terms.
Last week, the Clippers traded Paul to the Toronto Raptors as part of a three-team deal that sent Ochai Agbaji to the Nets.
Paul did not appear in a game with the Raptors, who waived him Friday.
“Playing basketball for a living has been an unbelievable blessing that also came with lots of responsibility,” Paul wrote Friday.
“I embraced it all. The good and the bad. As a lifelong learner, leadership is hard and is not for the weak. Some will like you and many people won’t. But the goal was always the goal, and my intentions were always sincere.”
Paul retires as an 11-time All-NBA selection who earned All-Defensive honors nine times. He was the NBA Rookie of the Year for 2005-06 and led the league in assists in five seasons and in steals in six.
His lone trip to the NBA Finals came in 2021, when his Suns lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in seven games.
“I am so excited to take with me to the next chapter all the incredible things basketball has taught me,” Paul wrote. “And more importantly [what] the people I have been blessed to meet through basketball have taught me.”
