How Chris Paul balanced playing ball with negotiating labor peace

“I’ll pop up,” Paul told The Vertical during All-Star Weekend, offering the most banal response to a question about how close he was to dropping dimes again.

Paul prefers to move in silence, without much fanfare, without losing sight of the goals in front of him. That approach is perhaps one of the main reasons how, as president of the National Basketball Players Association, Paul successfully led one of the more drama-free Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations in recent history – an accomplishment that will make this season a success in one respect, even if he is unable to capture that elusive championship ring.

Dedicating himself to advancing the agenda of his fellow players required a sacrifice that was felt largely by those closest to Paul, particularly his wife, Jada. Paul wasn’t some helicopter leader who delegated responsibilities to others who lacked the demands he faced as one of the superstar faces of his franchise, a visible product endorser, AAU program director and burgeoning entrepreneur. Paul was fully engaged, calling up or emailing NBPA executive director Michele Roberts to share his ideas and concerns, exchanging strategies via text with his right-hand man, James Jones, and reaching out to players to make sure that their input was heard and expressed in meetings with NBA owners.

“With all of the stuff on his plate, I really didn’t have much of an expectation that he was going to be able to be available,” Roberts recently told The Vertical. “I would say, ‘Guys, give me an hour and I promise I won’t bug you for a week.’ And his thing was, ‘No. Don’t worry about that, Michele. You just tell us what you need from us and we’ll be there.’ Chris was just remarkably available. It would have been perfectly within his rights to say, ‘Look, I ain’t getting paid for this. Let’s keep it to a minimum.’ But he was always there when I needed him. If I said it was critical that I reach you today, it was done.”

Roberts became familiar with Paul’s schedule and tried to be respectful of his time, never bothering him during his morning drives to drop off his kids, Little Chris and Camryn, at school. NBA commissioner Adam Silver was also mindful to not plan negotiations when Paul had games. And as a hint of how cordial both sides were after the last CBA resulted in a lockout and a shortened season, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer gave Paul the freedom to go wherever he was needed, even if meant skipping a game or practice. Paul tried to keep those moments to a minimum but recalls a wild 24-hour period in which he played a preseason game in Sacramento, immediately caught a private, red-eye flight to New York for a critical meeting between players and owners and then returned to Los Angeles.

“[Paul’s] unique,” Jones told The Vertical. “The rare breed of guy that can focus and perform on the highest level, on and off the court. We all know how seriously he takes his craft, but he takes the job of union president and looking out for the welfare of the game and players just as serious. There were a lot of late nights, late flights, phone calls, just extra energy, and then just going out there and playing 38 minutes a night, I mean, as if nothing happens. It’s a testament to his character and his integrity. Because he knew when he signed up for it that he’d be juggling heavy weights on both sides. But we got a deal done and that’s largely a byproduct of his leadership.”

Paul deflects the praise – “It’s not about me,” he says, repeatedly – but is elated that the league was able to achieve labor peace through a seven-year agreement at a time when the game has never been healthier financially. With a deal that was agreed upon in December and ratified in January – right before Paul injured his thumb – the players were able to raise salaries for rookies and mid-level players, allow superstars to negotiate maximum contract extensions through age 38, and steer some of the profits from the game’s steadily increasing popularity to provide health insurance for retired players. “It wasn’t so much about the pressure. Me and [Jones] talked about it a lot, even when we went into the negotiations, that we just felt a lot better because we understood what the players wanted,” Paul told The Vertical. “It’s like when you study for a test. If you’re unprepared when you go in there, you’re like, ‘Oh my goodness.’ But we were prepared. The biggest thing is, when we went in for the last negotiations, we didn’t say much. We talked here and there, but we didn’t really know what to say or how to look across at those owners and really talk. This time, we were comfortable. We were very comfortable.”

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