In a wave of trades and free agent signings this past week, there’s one move that considerably stood out than the huge majority: Chris Paul going to the San Antonio Spurs.

Paul was waived by the Golden State Warriors mere hours prior, and while there were immediate speculations on where he might go next, he not only shut it down quickly, he also surprised everyone with the destination: a team who’s in the middle of a rebuild.

According to reports, he was swayed by his talk with Spurs head coach Greg Popovich.

Much like his Warriors stint, it looked and felt weird, but it’s also very different at the same time, so it captured the imagination of fans right away. It was very evident all over X (formerly Twitter):

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that this is an exciting collaboration as the Spurs have put together a promising group of young guys, and Paul is known to be a team whisperer, which still stands even now at 38 years old.

Of course, that high-potential group is headlined by generational talent and runaway 2023-24 Rookie of the Year winner Victor Wembanyama. The 7’4 giant is a matchup nightmare as he moves, thinks, and flat-out plays like a guard, from his type of shots, extended range, and how he can attack the basket off-the-dribble, all while maintaining the classic post-ups and inside plays from a natural big.

Even better, he has defensive instincts beyond his years, so much so that he also finished a close second in this year’s Defensive Player of the Year race. 

2023-24 averages: 21.4 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.2 steals, 3.6 blocks. He paced the Spurs in scoring, rebounding, and steals, and led the entire league in blocks.

Wemby had 165 dunks this past season. It will likely have an uptick with Paul on deck.

In any case, one can only imagine how that gigantic size and offensive repertoire can mesh and progress alongside someone like Paul, one who has made quite the living as the facilitator of the LA Clippers’ ‘Lob City’ teams in the mid-2010s, and helped carve out All-NBA players in Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.

Then, there’s underrated wing Devin Vassell, a likewise developing two-way threat that can attack, hit outside shots, and also defend. He has put up 18.5 and 19.5 PPG over the last two seasons, and could also thrive better under Paul.

Further, there’s third-year wildcard Jeremy Sochan, who has shown he can play 1-4 positions, big body forward Keldon Johnson, the team’s top scorer before Wemby, and rookie Stephon Castle, a 6’6 point guard with defensive potential.

With all that, Paul should have more fun in San Antonio than he did in Golden State. The energy, enthusiasm, and hope is simply worlds away, seeing how the Warriors’ main core was getting old and there’s tension steadily building within the organization.

Sure, there will be growing pains seeing how Paul is the only true veteran presence in the Spurs’ locker room, but best believe they are bound to advance in maturity and overall approach towards winning with a Hall-of-Fame coach and future Hall-of-Fame point guard at the helm. It’s another more item added in the list of things to heavily wait for this coming 2024-25 season. If things align well enough, a return to the playoffs can certainly be in play.