Wake Forest Professional Athletes

The Jersey That Started a War

Chris Paul built the Los Angeles Clippers into something worth watching. The Clippers, apparently, would like you to forget that.

The latest chapter in the franchise's messy post-Paul era landed this week when it emerged that the Clippers had handed Paul's iconic No. 3 — a number no other Clipper had worn since 2011 — to newcomer Bradley Beal. The Wake Forest product, who retired after a storied career that included his transformative "Lob City" tenure in Los Angeles, wasted no time making his feelings known. Paul called the handling of his final Clippers season "one of the most disrespectful things that I've endured" — a striking statement from a player who has navigated franchise politics across multiple NBA stops over two decades.

The move immediately drew league-wide backlash. Fans and analysts alike questioned how an organization could reassign a number so closely tied to a franchise cornerstone without so much as a conversation — or a retirement ceremony. The Clippers, still navigating fallout from the Kawhi Leonard saga and other organizational turbulence, now find themselves defending a PR blunder that feels entirely self-inflicted.

An insider report from The Athletic's Law Murray, surfaced by Heavy Sports, pointed to Clippers brass as the sole architects of the decision — framing it as a front-office call, not Beal's. Beal himself attempted to defuse the situation, saying Paul's legacy "can't be touched, nor erased," and positioning the number change as a personal tribute rather than a slight. The gesture landed with mixed results; for many observers, the damage was already done the moment the Clippers failed to loop Paul in or honor him proactively.

Sports Illustrated's coverage was blunt: the Clippers are fumbling another high-profile situation, and the pattern of disrespecting franchise pillars — first Leonard, now Paul — is becoming impossible to ignore. FanSided called it "throwing shade," and multiple outlets noted the tone-deaf timing given how much Paul meant to a franchise that, before his arrival, was an afterthought in the Los Angeles sports landscape.

One Other Wake Forest Alumni Note

Elsewhere in the league, fellow Wake Forest alum James Johnson remained in the news, with Sports Illustrated making the case that the Indiana Pacers shouldn't overthink their final open roster spot — and that a reunion with the veteran forward is the obvious answer. Johnson hasn't signed yet, but the argument centers on fit, experience, and the value of a known commodity on a contender-adjacent Pacers squad. No deal has been reported.

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The Paul situation is the story, and it's bigger than basketball real estate. It's about how franchises treat the men who defined them — and whether the Clippers, under Steve Ballmer's watch, are capable of getting that right. So far, the answer isn't encouraging for a fanbase that remembers what CP3 built on the corner of Figueroa and Olympic.

CP3 Breaks Silence — and He's Not Holding Back

Chris Paul spent decades building a Hall of Fame résumé, and he wanted to finish it in Los Angeles. Instead, the Clippers handed him one of the most graceless exits in recent NBA memory — and now the Wake Forest legend is done staying quiet about it.

In a video that spread rapidly across NBA circles this week, Paul called his mid-season dismissal from the Clippers "probably one of the most disrespectful things that I've endured." The remarks carry real weight coming from a player who is among the most significant figures in franchise history.

Paul had signed a one-year deal last summer to close out his career in L.A. — a sentimental return to the city where he helped build the "Lob City" era. The reunion lasted all of 16 games. According to reporting from ClutchPoints and Heavy Sports, internal friction over Paul's intense accountability style and vocal leadership approach drove a wedge between him and the coaching staff and some players, leading the Clippers to abruptly send him home in December 2025.

Paul's pointed criticism landed hard enough that much of the NBA world sided with him — and some observers noted a certain poetic justice when the Clippers' own season subsequently unraveled. For Deacon fans, it's a bittersweet coda: their most celebrated NBA son deserved a standing ovation and got a side exit instead. He's since moved firmly into retirement, though one recent viral clip showed him exchanging alley-oops on a yacht with fellow NBA legends — a reminder that "Lob City" lives on, at least on the high seas.

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LaRavia Has a Door Open in L.A. — If He Can Shoot Straight

On a considerably more optimistic note for the Wake Forest diaspora, Jake LaRavia is heading into the new NBA season with a genuine shot at cracking the Los Angeles Lakers' starting lineup.

According to Heavy Sports, LaRavia is in contention for the open power forward spot alongside the Lakers' core — but there's a clear condition attached. The former Deac needs to demonstrate meaningful improvement in his three-point shooting percentage to lock down the role. His physical tools and defensive versatility have already made him a credible candidate; the perimeter shot is the one question mark standing between him and a starting nod.

If LaRavia can answer it, he'd give Wake Forest fans an active reason to watch Lakers games from tip-off — quite a different scenario than the one Paul was forced to live through just across town last December. The two storylines together paint an interesting portrait of the school's NBA footprint right now: one legend navigating the raw emotions of a career's end, another quietly building toward a breakout opportunity.

The Deacons have never been a factory program in the traditional sense. But between Paul's influence on the point guard position for two decades and LaRavia's emerging role on one of the league's marquee franchises, Winston-Salem's reach into the NBA remains very real.