Chris Paul Announces Retirement After Waiving

Chris Paul is calling it a career after 21 accomplished NBA seasons following his waiving from the Toronto Raptors.

That will be all for Chris Paul.

CP3 is calling it quits after 21. Following his reported waiving from the Toronto Raptors, the point guard announced his retirement in a four-part Instagram post on Friday. Paul departs after 21 seasons and taking the floor for seven different teams.

“This is it! After over 21 years I’m stepping away from basketball,” Paul declared. “While this chapter of being an “NBA player” is done, the game of basketball will forever be engrained in the DNA of my life. I’ve been in the NBA for more than half of my life, spanning three decades. It’s crazy even saying that!! Playing basketball for a living has been an unbelievable blessing that also came with lots of responsibility.”

“I embraced it all. The good and the bad,” Paul continued. “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 (Damn, I love competing!!).”

Chris Paul has announced his retirement pic.twitter.com/7bSGqL4AKu

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) February 13, 2026

Paul concludes what will undoubtedly become a Hall of Fame career as a 12-time All-Star and a nine-time member of the All-Defensive team. He led the Association in steals on a record six occasions (three more than the next men down) and also paced all men in assists five times. He retires as the runner-up in all-time assists and steals behind only John Stockton in both categories.

“It feels really good knowing that I played and treated this game with the utmost respect since the day my dad introduced to me to it. It was the very first relationship I ever knew,” Paul said. ” … The game always gave me a reason to SHOW UP!!! And the true leaders and fighters know that that right there – showing up – is half of the battle. So now with all the gratitude that I could possibly have… it’s time for me to show up for others and in other ways.”

A lauded prospect born in Winston-Salem, Paul originally rose to prominence as a prospect at West Forsyth (NC) High School and Wake Forest University. His success in the amateur ranks led the New Orleans Hornets to select him with the fourth pick of the 2005 NBA Draft.

He would guide the Hornets, displaced from the Big Easy by Hurricane Katrina, to a 20-win improvement en route to Rookie of the Year honors, which were earned nearly-unanimously (one vote went to Utah’s Deron Williams). Paul reached his first All-Star Game in 2008, when the game was held in New Orleans, and guided the team to a Louisiana franchise-best 56-26 record.

Under his watch, the franchise won its first playoff series, a five-game triumph over the Dallas Mavericks. In the history of the New Orleans franchise (now known as the Pelicans), Paul remains the all-time leader in assists, steals, and triple-doubles and ranks third in scoring behind Anthony Davis and David West.

As the Hornets fell out of contention, Paul (who was displeased with the in-season firing of head coach Byron Scott in 2009) was originally set to be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers but the deal was infamously vetoed by then-NBA commissioner David Stern (the Hornets were under NBA ownership at the time). Paul was instead traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in 2011, forming the famed “Lob City” grouping with big men Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.

Falling just short of averaging a double-double in his Clipper debut, Paul became the first red Southern Californian to appear on the All-NBA First Team list (one of four such showings) since the franchise’s move from San Diego in 1984. Despite continued success with the Clippers, Lob City failed to reach the conference final round and Paul was sent to the Houston Rockets in 2017. Paul’s name is equally prevalent in the Clipper record book, as he stands as the all-time assist leader and is in the top 10 in several other major categories.

Uniting with James Harden in Houston, Paul finally reached the conference finals after the Rockets put up a franchise-best 65-17 record in his 2017-18 debut. Behind his efforts, Houston rolled through its first two series before mustering a 2-2 tie with the Golden State Warriors for the NBA Finals bid. Alas for Houston, a Paul injury killed off their chances, leading to their elimination via consecutive defeats.

Following another second round defeat to Golden State, Paul spent the shortened 2019-20 season with the Oklahoma City Thunder, sent further West in a deal that involved the similarly-skilled Russell Westbrook. Though the Thunder were viewed as rebuilding after losing Westbrook and Kevin Durant, a rejuvenated Paul thrust the Thunder into a playoff spot before ironically falling to the Rockets in round one in the Walt Disney World bubble.

With Oklahoma City embracing another rebuild, Paul was traded to the Phoenix Suns, who paired him with blossoming backcourt star Devin Booker. Paul finally broke through the conference ceiling in the desert, reaching the NBA Finals with a win over the Clippers in the final four. Phoenix took a 2-0 lead on the Milwaukee Bucks in the championship round,, but wound up falling in six games.

While Phoenix won 64 games in the following season, a second-round defeat to the Mavericks awaited, including a crushing Game 7 blow out. From there, Paul mostly placed sterling window dressing on his storied career, spending the final stanzas in Golden State, San Antonio, and a return to Los Angeles. Unlike most superstars in his advanced age, Paul valued playing time over chasing an elusive ring, serving as a leader for the young Spurs in his lone Texas tour last season. In San Antonio, Paul became the first player in NBA history to pair 23,000 points with 12,000 assists and also became the first Association rep to start all 82 games in his 20th season.

Paul intended to spend one final year with the Clippers, but relations, namely those with head coach Tyronn Lue, soured. The Clippers sent Paul home from an early December road trip and eventually traded him north in a three-team deadline deal. Toronto never anticipated playing Paul and granted him his release on Friday. Paul made his announcement shortly before the Clippers host NBA All-Star Weekend at their new home of Intuit Dome in Inglewood.

4 Minutes of POINT GOD CP3 embarrassing defenders! pic.twitter.com/EG7mSXS6gD https://t.co/ktNjrixCQf

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) February 13, 2026

Thus ends the career of Paul, who was part of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team unveiled in 2021. He vowed to spent more time with his children, Jada, Chris II, and Cam.

“I am so excited to take with me to the next chapter all the incredible things basketball has taught me, and, more importantly, that the people I have been blessed to meet through basketball have taught me,” Paul said. “To all the teammates, coaches, staff, executives and most of all family. I can’t begin to thank you enough…but the good news is I’ll now have much more time to start! The biggest thanks of all goes to the man upstairs…if you know this and are reading feel free to finish…’ God is Good, All the Time and All the Time’….”

Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags