Chris Paul

BIOGRAPHY

Chris Paul was born on May 6, 1985, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He is a point guard in the NBA.

He has won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, an NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award, two Olympic gold medals, and led the NBA in assists four times and steals six times. He has also been selected to nine NBA All-Star teams, eight All-NBA teams, and nine NBA All-Defensive teams.

On the court, Chris Paul is a force to be reckoned with, a fierce competitor, and one of the most talented, respected NBA players of all time. Off the court, he’s a father, husband, compassionate philanthropist, and businessman, who has built a robust brand and made a huge difference in his community, all while creating a powerful legacy. He is greatly respected by his peers as a leader both in and outside of basketball.

After leaving Wake Forest University (who retired his jersey in March 2013) at the end of his sophomore year, Chris was chosen by the New Orleans Hornets as the fourth pick in the 2005 NBA draft, which led to NBA Rookie of the Year honors, and the first of his twelve All-Star selections. 

Chris joined the Los Angeles Clippers in 2011 becoming the face of the franchise and helped lead the Clippers to their first-ever Pacific Division title in 2013. After six years with the Clippers, Chris joined the Houston Rockets in 2017 and helped the team win a franchise record of 65 games in his debut season. Chris most recently joined the Golden State Warriors and previously played with the Phoenix Suns and Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Winston Salem, North Carolina native has multiple NBA First Team, All NBA Defensive First Team, and NBA All-Star selections and has led the league in assists and steals in multiple years. He won MVP honors at the 2013 All-Star game and is also a two-time gold medal winner with Team USA at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. Chris and the Phoenix Suns became 2021 Western Conference champions and advanced to the 2021 NBA Finals where they competed against the Milwaukee Bucks. He was named to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team as one of the 75 greatest players in NBA history. In October 2021, Chris became the first player in league history to record 20,000 points and 10,000 assists in their career. He ranks third place on the NBA's all-time career assists list.

In 2021, Chris ended his tenure as President of the National Basketball Players Association, which began in August 2013. He played an instrumental role in making key decisions including the landmark decision to provide health insurance to retired players.

In addition to his leadership role with the NBA Players Association, Chris currently serves on the Board of Directors for the NBPA Foundation and the Brotherhood Crusade. He is the President of World Waters (WTRMLN WTR’s Advisory Board) and an Advisory Board Member for College Track Los Angeles.

He is the co-founder of Go Hoop Day, a day for celebrating the game of basketball worldwide. He co-hosts The Baha Mar Showdown, the annual celebrity golf showcase created by Turner Sports and CAA Sports.

His New York Times bestselling memoir, Sixty-One: Life Lessons from Papa, On and Off the Court, is a powerful and unexpected story of family, faith, tragedy, and life's most important lessons. He also wrote an inspirational and uplifting picture book on the subject.

Chris’s business partnerships include the Jordan Brand, State Farm Insurance, Turner Impact Capital, Muzik, WTRMLN WTR, Beyond Meat, PlayersTV, Knowable, goPuff, Type:A Brands, The La Fête Wine Company, Watchbox, Koia, Greenfly, Misha’s Kind Foods, Life360, Uncharted Power, Calm, Dibbs, MaxOne, Supplant, Roots Food Group, Fanatics, Panini Cards, and more.

Chris teamed up with Turner Impact Capital to raise awareness of the importance of affordable housing for working-class families. He's also an investor in the Turner Multifamily Impact Fund, which aims to invest, preserve and enrich existing multifamily properties in densely populated, ethnically diverse, underserved urban communities.

Chris’s production company, Ohh Dip!!! Productions, creates content across multiple platforms. Ohh Dip!!! produced the three-part ESPN docuseries Chapter 3, which provides a behind-the-scenes look at Chris’s decision to leave the L.A. Clippers and join the Houston Rockets. Chris served as an executive producer of the ESPN Sports Emmy-nominated documentary, Crossroads, featuring a high school lacrosse team’s journey in overcoming adversity. He executive produced The Game Changers, an award-winning 2018 documentary about plant-based eating, and Quibi’s 2020 Blackballed, the inside story of Donald Sterling and the L.A. Clippers. He executive produced Why Not Us: NC Central Men's Basketball (ESPN+), an in-depth look at the NCCU men’s basketball team, the challenges they face on the court, and what it means to play for an HBCU, and The Day Sports Stood Still, a documentary from director Antoine Fuqua and Imagine Documentaries about sports shutting down due to Covid-19 for HBO and streaming on HBO Max. Chris narrated the documentary, Big House, The Pearl & The Triumph of Winston-Salem State, which aired on the CBS Sports network. Chris appeared in a sports-themed episode of Nickelodeon’s animated show, Blaze and the Monster Machines. Recently, he executive produced Why Not Us: FAMU Football, the second season of the Why Not Us series taking fans behind-the-scenes of Florida A&M Football as the Rattlers experience one of the most eagerly anticipated football seasons in school history. In addition, he executive produced PlayersTV’s Front Office, a series featuring a behind-the-scenes look at athletes making strategic investments in their fans’ business ideas. Upcoming projects include American Sole, a feature film following two characters played by Pete Davidson and O’Shea Jackson Jr. in the sneaker reselling industry, Playdate, a multi-generational, family-friendly competition series that spotlights children and seniors doing hilarious fish-out-of-water challenges while learning from one another, and 61, a biographical film based on Paul’s upcoming memoir that is in development for Disney+. Chris joined the voice cast for the upcoming animated feature Sneaks, which centers around a pair of misplaced sneakers that are lost in New York City and must find a way to get back to their "sole" mates. Ohh Dip!!! co-produces Bloomberg Quicktake’s upcoming How I Got Here, an in-depth weekly one-on-one interview hosted by Paul and featuring guests from the various worlds he touches -- sports, business, entertainment, and politics.

His CP3 Basketball Academy is a premier training academy in Winston Salem and Greensboro, NC. The Academy provides skill development, basketball education, and leadership opportunities for young athletes of all skill levels. Chris also hosts youth clinics and camps, as well as an elite camp for top high school and college students from around the country.

In 2018, Chris became part owner of the Winston-Salem Dash, a minor league baseball team in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Chris hosted his inaugural Club 61 Leadership Alliance in the summer of 2019. The mission of Club 61 is to provide experiences and opportunities for young adults to develop leadership skills.

Chris and his family established the Chris Paul Family Foundation in 2005, which continues to provide resources that enrich and strengthen underserved communities across the country. Leveling the playing field in education, the foundation provides technology opportunities for children in underserved communities across the United States. The foundation supports numerous organizations including the Boys & Girls Club, Shoes That Fit, Vision to Learn, the Brotherhood Crusade, Leaps n Boundz, and Feed The Children. The foundation also hosts an annual Prom Pop-up Shop and Prom Takeover event, which provides high school students with all the necessities for a memorable prom experience.

The foundation donated $2.5 million to Wake Forest University to support their basketball program and transform the men's and women's basketball clubhouses with expanded and enhanced locker rooms, nutrition resources, and treatment areas. The new Chris Paul Locker Room for the men’s team will be named in his honor.

The foundation’s impact on local communities has earned Chris the NBA Community Assist Award five times. He has also received the 2016 ESPYs “Humanitarian of the Year” award and the 2016 Mannie Jackson Human Spirit Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for his community efforts.

Chris continues to be a vocal champion of HBCUs and earned a degree from Winston-Salem State University in 2022. He partnered with Harvard Business School to bring its Entertainment, Media, and Sports program to North Carolina A&T and future HBCUs, creating the Special Topics in Management course to develop a pipeline for students pursuing careers in those industries. He raised awareness through his HBCU Sneaker Tour and the sneakers were auctioned off with all of the proceeds donated to the men’s and women’s basketball programs of each school represented. He launched HBCU voting initiatives to encourage students to vote this past election. He partnered with Sour Patch Kids and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund to create The Mischief for Change Scholarship, a college scholarship fund with a $1 million commitment over the next five years for students attending HBCUs. The Chris Paul Basketball Academy will host HBCU CON, an event for elite players from historically Black colleges and universities that will be offering instruction embedded with skill development from former and current NBA professionals, professional scouts, and training for male and female HBCU student-athletes aspiring to play professionally. In November 2021, Chris hosted The Chris Paul HBCU Tip-Off and The Boost Mobile HBCU Challenge in partnership with The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Together with Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony, Chris launched the Social Change Fund United dedicated to investing in and supporting organizations focused on empowering communities of color and advocating for the human rights of all black lives.

Chris hosted Nickelodeon's 5th Annual Kids' Choice Sports Awards in 2018. He teamed up with Nickelodeon in Houston for Worldwide Day of Play, a nationwide initiative to promote active, playful lifestyles in today’s young generation.

Chris is a Co-Chair of When We All Vote, a new national, nonpartisan not-for-profit shaping the promise of democracy through voter registration and participation.

Chris is married to Jada Paul and they have two children; a daughter, Camryn, and a son, Chris II.

Chris Paul was traded to the Golden State Warriors following the 2022-2023 season.