NBA Analyst Compares Chris Paul Unfavorably To Former MVP; Lists Him Outside Top-10 All Time PGs

Kendrick Perkins believes that Russell Westbrook is above Chris Paul on the list of all-time great point guards.

NBA Analyst Compares Chris Paul Unfavorably To Former MVP; Lists Him Outside Top-10 All Time PGs

Chris Paul (Image via ESPN on X)

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The 2025-26 Los Angeles Clippers squad is shaping up to be an interesting look, to say the least. The team has added Chris Paul, Bradley Beal, Brook Lopez and John Collins to a roster that had 49 wins last year. Even though they were without Kawhi Leonard for much of the previous year, James Harden led them to a playoff seeding before they made a concerted push to reach a top-5 seed by mid April.

There is little doubt that the Clippers have an improved look next year if all goes to plan. A look at their roster suggests that they have 11 players who could realistically be positive contributors during the playoffs while also soaking up a big regular season load off franchise stars Kawhi Leonard and James Harden. Adding Chris Paul, in particular, would help their bench unit, and even their starting unit at times, be better and more productive offensively.

However, former NBA player and ESPN pundit Kendrick Perkins doesn’t quite see things the same way. In his eyes, Chris Paul is not capable of being a real playoff contributor at his age. He also set the cat among the pigeons with a flaming hot take about the Clippers legend, who is now playing possibly his farewell season at Intuit Dome:

CP3 is a top-15 greatest point guard of all time. I do not have him in my top 10. I don’t have CP3 ranked above Russell Westbrook.

He went into more detail on this, saying:

Did CP3 do a lot of things, change a franchise, win a lot of games and things? Yes, absolutely. I would never take that away from him. Since he was drafted with the New Orleans Pelicans, he changed that franchise. They were a winning organization. He goes to the Clippers, winning organization. Goes to the Phoenix Suns, winning organization. But when it comes down to rankings, you’ve gotta check those boxes and you gotta have those accolades. And when I say accolades, yes, championships, winning a Finals MVP, but CP3 don’t have one MVP.

How does Chris Paul compare to Russell Westbrook, realistically?

There is no doubt that Russell Westbrook was a one-man wrecking crew – often for his own team – and a force of nature during his first 10 NBA seasons with the OKC Thunder. The 2016-17 NBA MVP had perhaps the most clutch season of all time with OKC that year, who were reeling off the loss of Kevin Durant to the Warriors. He absolutely shouldered a bigger burden individually than CP3 for many years.

Chris Paul
Chris Paul (Imagn)

However, in terms of being a point guard and helping his teammates produce better on the court, Chris Paul edges Westbrook. This isn’t to say that Westbrook wasn’t all-time great at this – but Chris Paul was visibly better, and his teams’ offenses bear this out, both in the regular season as well as in playoff settings. Paul’s better shooting and decision-making put his teammates in better spots and got them going.

Although Westbrook has that MVP, scoring titles and assists titles (two and three of each), Chris Paul leads him in All-NBA First Team nods, career MVP votes, All-Defensive Team selections, assists titles, steals titles and All-Star nods. Holistically speaking, Paul has the edge here, even though Westbrook as an overall player from 2015 to 2017 was better than any version of Paul (including 07-08, when he was possibly denied a deserving MVP himself).

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