SAN ANTONIO — Welcome to Lob City 2.0.
The number of times that new San Antonio Spurs point guard Chris Paul, No. 3 on the NBA’s list of all-time assist leaders, is apt to lob passes for dunks to his new teammate, 7-foot-4 reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama during the upcoming season, brought a smile to the face of another brand new Spurs player.
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Veteran forward Harrison Barnes, acquired Monday by the Spurs as part of a three-way trade among the Spurs, Sacramento Kings and Chicago Bulls, has great expectations for lob dunks in 2024-25.
“I mean, it would be a shame if we didn’t (lead the league in that category),” Barnes said. “It would definitely be a shame.”
As opponents for all of the 12 prior seasons in The Association, Paul and Barnes bonded a bit during a night flight to San Antonio on Monday and then met with the media at the Spurs’ state-of-the-art Victory Capital Performance Center on Tuesday afternoon. Inquiring minds wanted to know why both highly successful veterans — with combined totals of 32 NBA seasons and 220 playoff games — were comfortable joining a team that won only 22 games last season when the Spurs were the league’s youngest and least experienced team.
Both cited Wembanyama’s presence as very reassuring.
“He definitely was a part of it,” Barnes said of his willingness to waive the trade kicker in the contract the Spurs assumed from the Kings.
“There’s no player in the league that everybody in the league talks about after the game like him,” Paul said. “Everybody has to adjust stuff. On our flight yesterday (Barnes and I) were just talking about how cool it’s going to be at this point in our careers to get a chance to appreciate him, day in and day out.”
As it turns out, though, Paul agreed to join the Spurs for the most basic of reasons: He wants to “hoop” and the Spurs are going to let him do just that.
“(It’s) the opportunity to play, to hoop, to compete,” Paul said. “This is a first-class organization, and, for me, I’ve loved nothing more than the opportunity to play and contribute and hoop and hoop.”
So, it’s all about hooping, Chris?
“Yeah.”
Paul will likely be the Spurs’ starting point guard next season. While that was unspoken on Tuesday, it was important to him after coming off the bench in 40 of the 58 games he played for the Golden State Warriors last season.
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He had been a starter in every one of his previous NBA games, 1,214 of them.
And then there’s the Popovich factor.
“Obviously, it’s going to be an honor and a privilege,” Paul said of playing for Hall of Fame coach Gregg Popovich, the winningest NBA coach in history. “I’ve admired Pop for years, not only for his basketball IQ but just for who he is as a person, as a competitor. I’m excited to learn from him and the coaching staff here.”
When the news broke that Paul had agreed to a one-year, $11 million contract with the Spurs after the Warriors waived him so they could save a big chunk of luxury tax money, there was plenty of talk about what it would mean for the Spurs. Much of the instant analysis had him serving as a mentor to his mostly super-young teammates. That included mentoring new rookie Stephon Castle, the 6-foot-6 University of Connecticut guard, who insists he eventually wants to play point guard in the NBA.
Well, maybe not.
Paul will teach his teammates but reiterated that he is in San Antonio to play.
Period.
“I think I’ve always taken that responsibility very seriously,” Paul said of his career-long mentorship of teammates in New Orleans, Los Angeles, Houston, Oklahoma City, Phoenix and Golden State. “Just also understand that I come to hoop. I’m not a coach.
“I come in, obviously, with a lot of knowledge from on-the-job training, but I also come in trying to learn from each of these guys. That’s probably been the coolest thing about my career that I’ve (gone) to some teams that are younger, but I’m constantly learning from these guys.
Paul insisted his time spent with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Devin Booker and Mikal Bridges gave him as much additional knowledge as he dropped when those younger teammates asked for it.
Paul is now one of just four 39-year-olds in the NBA, along with LeBron James, P.J. Tucker and Taj Gibson. As those four have matured, the rookies entering the league now seem much younger in ways that can’t be measured.
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What makes Paul want to be around so many kids?
“I still look at myself as a big kid,” Paul said. And no wonder. He has a 15-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter and has his own AAU team of teenagers. He watches logs of middle school and high school games.
Even the youngest of his new teammates — 19-year-old Castle, and 20-year-olds Sidy Cissoko and Wembanyama – likely seem comparatively mature.
Still, the generation gap can’t be ignored. The Spurs ended last season without a single player who was 30-anything with 32-year-old Doug McDermott traded to the Indiana Pacers for cash considerations at the trade deadline. Now, there are two 30-somethings, one of whom will be approaching 40 by season’s end.
Maybe Paul and Barnes will agree to be early dinner partners on the road this season: Reservations for 5 p.m. while their precocious young teammates ponder a 2 a.m. bedtime.
(Photo of Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama: Noah Graham / NBAE via Getty Images)