Chris Paul still pissed about Pau Gasol’s pat on the head

First thing: You should go read the entire Chris Paul feature in GQ because it’s a good insight into one of the more grounded NBA superstars you’re going to come across. He is as competitive as Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett, but he doesn’t let that fire consume him to the point he doesn’t play smart. He’s always calm.

Which is why it was odd to see Paul lose it a little last season when, after a tough game where the Lakers beat Paul’s Clippers, Pau Gasol made what he thought was an innocent gesture and patted Paul on the head. Gasol thought it friendly, but Paul took it another way.

And months after the incident, Paul still sounded ticked when GQ’s Steve Marsh brought it up.

“We call that sonnin’, " he explains to me. “Like when I take Li’l Chris to the bathroom, I’ll walk with my hand on his head. That’s my son. You know what I mean? I understand that Gasol is that tall, but don’t do to me what I do to my son.”

But that was followed by a moment of honest refection.

Then CP3 says something I’ve never heard any man, let alone a basketball player, say before: “I’ve been fortunate to be short my entire life.” I look puzzled, and he explains. “There’s only one position I’ve ever had to play, and that’s point guard. So I’ve always had to be that leader. And that was my job: you know, to talk.” CP3 is looking me straight in the eye. “I’m a big-time people person, too. Like, I love people. I hate to be by myself.” He repeats the phrase to himself, quieter each time: “I hate to be by myself. I hate to be by myself. I hate to be by myself.”

Paul is going to have a lot of people pulling at him this season — he is a free agent next summer, and while the Clippers may be in the driver’s seat to keep him nothing is certain. Paul likes Los Angeles, but he’s not Hollywood. He’s going to make the decision next summer that is best for his family first and him as well.

Really, just go read the GQ piece and you’ll get a sense of the man and how he’s going to handle free agency with a calm precision. Just like he does on the court.