Chris Paul is playing his last NBA season in the 2025-26 campaign. The NBA is losing one of its great point guards and leaders, a player former head coach Monty Williams always points out and commends.
Monty Williams was a longtime NBA head coach with stints across the league. However, he is mostly remembered for his time with the then-New Orleans Hornets and the Phoenix Suns. During those two stints, Williams was partnered with Chris Paul as his floor general.
He always had a strong connection with Paul, who remains one of the smartest basketball players in the league. During their time with the Suns, they were successful as Williams was a perennial Coach of the Year candidate and Paul was having a career renaissance. They even reached the NBA Finals in 2021 and were two games away from winning the title, but they lost.
As they grew closer as coach and player, Williams realized that Paul was a special leader for his teammates. He was such a commanding player that Williams wants to defend him from criticism because Paul was much more than meets the eye in terms of his impact on the franchises he played for.
Williams was always impressed with Paul’s impact on his teams
With Paul retiring soon, many people are speaking about his impact on teams. He never won a championship in his NBA career, but he is still getting receiving well-deserved recognition for being one of the best examples of a floor general.
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At the same time, Paul was such a respected leader among his teammates because he always did everything he could. However, they might not know that Paul was always fighting for them to get important rest days or taking the brunt of the criticism.
Williams always loved that when he was coaching Paul as his point guard, because he knew he could always trust his leader to do the right thing. Apart from his on-court production, Paul’s leadership and accountability were major reasons for his strong reputation as a pure point guard.
“Every so often, my phone would ring, and it would be Chris… You have to understand that Chris and I have a relationship beyond basketball; our families are connected in North Carolina. I trusted Chris to tell me what was going on without violating the relationships he had with his teammates,” Williams said on Run Your Race.
“His teammates would never know how much he stuck up for them, with me. If I were too hard on a guy, Chris would be the first guy to tell me. If Book had 48 points and I sub him, Chris would walk up to me in a really cool way and say, ‘Don’t take out Book right now.’ Chris was so good for me and good for them.”
Paul is retiring as an iconic point guard
Based solely on his numbers, Paul is one of the most impressive point guards of the modern era. He is not a score-first guard like Stephen Curry or Damian Lillard, but Paul always knew what his team needed.
Paul has career averages of 16.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 9.2 assists, and 2.0 steals per game. That is such an impressive stat line over 21 years in the NBA. Considering he is barely 6’0″, he is a modern-day anomaly for being so impactful, which is why a lot of players respect him.
Many people will point out that he never won an NBA title as a criticism, but not every iconic player can win a championship. Names like Charles Barkley and John Stockton are remembered as all-time greats despite never winning a title.
Paul should have a similar legacy because he has left a major mark on the game. As the game continues to evolve, Paul’s playmaking and control over games will be looked back on as one of the most impressive feats by any small player.