Chris Paul gets brutally honest on not wanting to come off the bench for the Warriors

The first team that came to mind when the Golden State Warriors traded for Chris Paul was: He’s got to come off the bench, right? Needless to say, that was followed by questions about whether he’d be willing to accept that role for the first time in his 19-year NBA career.

That seemed to be the only way this experiment would work. Beef with Draymond Green aside, the Warriors already had Stephen Curry still in his prime handling point guard duties, and he wasn’t the reason why they fell in last year’s playoffs.

Steve Kerr’s team desperately needed someone who could pull the strings of the second unit, and it was hard to think of a better guy to do that than one of the greatest players of all time.

Nonetheless, Paul didn’t seem too open to the idea at first. But now that he’s got a full training camp and some games with his new team under his belt, he finally explained that he wasn’t bothered about coming off the bench as much as he was about the assumption that he was going to do it.

Chris Paul of the Golden State Warriors

Paul Is Doing What’s Best For The Team

“It was over-exaggerated because I’ll tell you this: It wasn’t a question,” Paul told The Athletic. “She [the journalist who asked him about coming off the bench] made a statement. I know what the media is like. I know what I said in there. I know what bullet points gonna be taken from that.”

Then again, Paul admits that him leading the second unit makes the most sense for the team. He knows he’s playing with a talented group of players with several potential starters:

“It works,” Paul said. “It gives us a bigger lineup. I’ve never been on a team, probably with this type of depth. I’ve been on really good teams, don’t get it twisted. But not necessarily where you could say: ‘All these guys can start.’ And I think last year that was the best starting five in the league.”

He Won’t Change His Ways

As good a player as he is, Paul’s ways have often been questioned. He won’t hesitate to get on a teammate’s face if needed, and that often rubbed people the wrong way. However, he’s not going to change his ways just because he recently arrived and is playing with the second unit:

Chris Paul in action for the Golden State Warriors

“I’m an over-communicator,” Paul said. “I say that all the time. Some people don’t like it. But that’s me. That way, you don’t have to guess how I feel about you. A lot of time, people are scared to have those conversations. But you got guys who’ve won, guys who want to win, and everyone understands what they mean to the team. When you done [sic] played this long, you want to enjoy the people you’re around, and you want to win.”

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Warriors" Draymond Green explains what he needs to do to fit next to Chris Paul

At the end of the day, Paul, Green, Curry, and Klay Thompson are all veteran players who know what it takes to find success in this league. All concerns about the fit and his attitude were valid, but it seems like they’ve figured things out already.