Paul was cut! It's a pity that there is no championship in his career, and the MVP battle lost to Kobe Bryant

I never expected that the 38-year-old Chris Paul would be cut in the 18th season of his career. Two years ago, the star, known as the god of point guards, led the Suns back to the Finals after many years, and the Suns can be said to put on their pants and not admit it. Looking back on Paul's career, it can be called very brilliant, 5 assists king, 6 steal king, 4 All-Team First Team, 7 All-Defensive First Team, 12 All-Star team selections, the fly in the ointment, in the championship and MVP, the two most important honors, Paul is still empty. Of course, when it comes to MVP, there will be a lot of Paul fans who are upset about him, and they think that the 2008 MVP should belong to Paul.

As we all know, in the 2008 MVP selection, Paul finally lost to Kobe, which was the only MVP in Kobe's career. At that time, many media and fans believed that Kobe Bryant relied on his popularity to win the MVP, so is this the case? Let's compare it with three aspects of data.

Kobe played in 82 games for the Lakers that season, starting all 82 games, averaging 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.8 steals and 0.5 blocks in 38.9 minutes of playing time, shooting 45.9% from the field, 36.1% from three-point range and 84% from the free-throw line.

Paul played in 80 games for the Hornets that season, starting all 80 games, averaging 21.1 points, 4 rebounds, 11.6 assists, 2.7 steals and 0.1 blocks in 37.6 minutes per game, shooting 48.8% from the field, 36.9% from three-point range and 85.1% from the free-throw line. It can be seen from the personal data that the two people actually played the performance of superstars, and the personal data can be tied.

Looking at the results of leading the team, Kobe Bryant led the Lakers to a 57-25 record that year, ranking first in the West, and the Lakers won 15 more games than the previous season.

Paul led the Hornets to a 56-26 record, second in the West, with the Hornets winning 17 more games than last season. However, the Hornets stopped the Western Conference semifinals in the playoffs that year, while the Lakers reached the Finals. But considering that the MVP looks at the record of the regular season, from the perspective of leading the team, the two people basically have a tie.

Finally, looking at the record of the two men at that time, the Hornets and Lakers met a total of 4 times that season, and both sides won two wins each. On April 11, the fourth meeting between the Lakers and the Hornets, because the previous personal data and leading results of both sides were excellent, which made it difficult for the media to make a choice, so this game was also regarded as the final battle between the two MVPs.

In that final matchup, the Lakers defeated the Hornets 107-104. Paul shot 4-of-13 from the field and had 15 points, 6 rebounds, 17 assists and 4 steals, while Kobe Bryant shot 9-of-17 for 29 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 steals. Because the Lakers won, Kobe Bryant played excellent statistics in this crucial game, which greatly added to his MVP score.

Of course, in fact, if the MVP was awarded to Paul that year, the fans would not have too many opinions, and it can only be said that Paul's luck is still worse. Now 38 years old, Paul still has a lot of oil in his tank, and although he can no longer attack the MVP, his desire for a championship is still very strong, hoping that Paul can taste the championship in the twilight of his career.