Chris Paul Free Agency Landing Spots: Mavs Among Favorites

San Antonio Spurs veteran point guard Chris Paul will be a free agent this offseason after starting in all 82 games of his 20th NBA season, playing alongside young stars Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle.

Paul has already played for the New Orleans Hornets (now Pelicans), Los Angeles Clippers, Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns, and Golden State Warriors.

Some teams will be undergoing an extensive rebuild after falling short in the playoffs. Then there are other teams that must undergo a dramatic reshuffle of their roster to abide by the new CBA’s salary cap rules.

Here are three teams that could potentially add Paul this offseason.

Dallas Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks are reportedly interested in signing Chris Paul.

According to NBA insider Marc Stein, Paul, Lonzo Ball, and Jrue Holiday have all been linked to the Mavs. Dallas is “expected to at least explore” a trade with the Boston Celtics for Holiday.

However, Paul would be the cheapest option among the three guards. Although the 40-year-old is the second-oldest player in the NBA, he averaged 8.8 points and 7.4 assists per game with the Spurs this season.

Per Spotrac, Holiday still has three years and $104 million remaining on his contract, which could make a trade difficult given that the Mavs are barely under the first apron and have $10.8 million in second apron space.

The Mavs, who own the No. 1 pick in the upcoming 2025 NBA draft, are also projected to select Duke star Cooper Flagg. As Dallas awaits the return of Kyrie Irving, pairing Paul with Flagg would be quite an interesting strategy.

Los Angeles Lakers

According to Bovada, the Los Angeles Lakers have the second-best odds (+300) behind the Mavs (-120) to sign Paul this summer. Fourteen years ago, the NBA killed a three-team trade that involved the Hornets, Lakers, and the 12-time All-Star guard.

That year in 2011, the NBA experienced a significant disruption as the CBA expired, leading to a lockout that lasted 161 days. Paul said then that he would not re-sign with New Orleans as a free agent following the 2011-12 season.

The vetoed trade would have sent Paul to a Lakers franchise that had won two of the previous three titles. One person in particular who was shocked by the league’s interference was former Lakers coach Phil Jackson.

“[Vetoed trades] happen fairly often but usually it’s due to a technicality in the trade. Something’s off, the money’s off, the cap number’s off, medical records have passed or there’s been some impropriety in terms of disclosure, right, and they’ll veto the trade; it happens,” Jackson said.

“But in this case, it’s a perfectly good three-way trade. But because the league was the owner of the Hornets, it just begged a lot of questions and wonderment why and how the league can be in a position and do that. I think people viewed it as a conflict.”

Paul joining a LeBron James-led Lakers squad in 2025 would definitely make headlines. But it might not have the same impact nowadays, considering it’s not the early 2010s.

Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics are the wild card. Sportsbooks are not listing Boston on any next-team odds chart for Chris Paul, but maybe they should. The Celtics are rumored to move on from Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, and Jaylen Brown this summer.

If neither Holiday nor Brown end up staying put, it would make sense for the team to explore a Paul signing. Holiday is owed $32.4 million next season, while Porzingis is set to earn $30.73 million.

Meanwhile, Derrick White is slated to earn $28.1 million as well. Then there’s Sam Hauser, who signed a four-year, $45 million extension last summer. He’s under contract for slightly north of $10 million for 2025-26 campaign.

However, the tax hit raises the cost of carrying Hauser on the roster.

If the Celtics manage to pull off a blockbuster trade to land either Giannis Antetokounmpo or Kevin Durant, there’s a good chance that some of these aforementioned players will be off the team.

Paul has never played for an East Coast team at the NBA level, but he did play two seasons at Wake Forest and attended West Forsyth High School in Clemmons, North Carolina.