The Fact That Chris Paul Keeps Getting Hurt Is Depressing As Hell

Christian Petersen. Getty Images.

I'm not totally sure I believe in curses, but something is sure is going on with Chris Paul. The guy simply cannot catch a break and frankly it's depressing as shit. If you've been watching the Suns/Lakers series you know that Paul hasn't been the same since this injury

The production has clearly taken a hit. Through two games Paul is only putting up 6/3/6.5 shooting 38% from the floor. That's a pretty substantial drop off from his 16/4/9 on 49/39% during the regular season. The health and production of Paul is fairly important to not just the Suns making it out of this opening round, but their overall ceiling for a potential playoff run. 

Given how awesome Paul has been now in back to back seasons, to the point where some have him in the MVP conversation, it just sucks that this happened yet again. Which brings me back to this Chris Paul postseason curse. It's honestly pretty ridiculous

2015 Second Round - pulled his hammy

2016 First round - broke his hand

2018 Conference Finals - pulled his hammy

2021 First round - fucked his shoulder up

I think we can all agree that 2018 injury is the one that you could argue really cost him his first ring. That Rockets team would have won the title, I'll always believe that. Up 3-2 prior to getting hurt, that one stings. 

This time around what sucks most is how good the Suns have been this year with Paul leading the charge. Back in the playoffs for the first time since the Nash Era, you had every reason to be confident as a Suns fan. To have that all change in the blink of an eye on a weird freak play like that is such a gut punch. I honestly cannot think of another player of Paul's caliber that keeps getting hurt like this. Guy can just never catch a break and that sucks for a guy that's an all time player. I just want to see what a contending Paul led team does with him fully healthy. Why do the Basketball Gods refuse to give us that? 

The good news is it looks like Paul will play tonight as the series shifts back to LA. If the first two games have told us anything, it's that this Suns team can hang with the Lakers even with a version of Chris Paul that isn't anywhere close to what they're used to getting. If he can somehow find a way to give them anything offensively, the Suns absolutely have a chance. It's going to take all three of Paul/Booker/Ayton to pull this off, especially when you know AD/LeBron playoff whistles are coming. 

As someone who thoroughly enjoys watching Chris Paul play basketball, I'm hoping this isn't another Rockets series situation on our hands. But man, I've just never seen someone as snakebitten as Chris Paul seems to be whenever the calendar flips to the postseason. Shit sucks.