Phoenix Suns star Chris Paul has recently become the talk of the town in the hoops world after his side took the lead in the playoff series against the Clippers. For nine years, Chris Paul has failed to win a playoff game officiated by the veteran official Scott Foster. As the Suns won the second game against the Clippers on Wednesday, CP3 redeemed himself from the nine-year-old curse. Besides the 12x-NBA-All Star garnered further attention on the court by crossing paths with Kawhi Leonard. Adding fuel to the buzz around the Suns star, Paul’s former NBA champion teammate recently revealed how annoying the NBA veteran can be.

During his rookie season with the then-New Orleans Hornets in 2005, Chris Paul was quick to befriend Earl Joseph ‘J.R’ Smith. The two eventually turned out to be a sensational duo. However, the beginning of the iconic friendship was not so smooth, as CP3’s first impression ended up irritating J.R Smith unimaginably.

NBA veteran reveals annoying Chris Paul memory

J.R Smith has recently garnered attention from the fans after the release of his autobiographical docuseries J.R Smith Redefined. Recently, the 2x-NBA champion appeared in an episode of The Old Man and the Three Podcast and weighed in on instances from his illustrious NBA career. Given his camaraderie with Chris Paul, Smith could not help but talk at length about his former teammate from the New Orleans side.

Smith started his reminiscence of the Suns star with an interesting story from the latter’s rookie year. In 2005, when the New Orleans Hornets drafted Chris Paul, the team had to play their games and train in Oklahoma City as the Hornets’ home city was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. One fine day, the Point God hit up J.R Smith and invited him to join him and his family for a cruise.

Smith did not say no, and joined his rookie teammate for the cruise. “I go on the family cruise and the whole time he[Chris Paul] won’t stop talking. He won’t stop talking about everything though. I am like, oh my God hope he is not really like this,” said J.R Smith, revealing how CP3 annoyed him back then.

The whole discussion was kickstarted after JJ Redick asked Smith whether CP3 was as annoying back then as he is now. In response, Smith seemed to have a boatload of stories to tell regarding Paul’s habit of irritating him.

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Smith realized Chris Paul is special

Though Chris Paul annoyed Smith back then, the two later became close friends. Besides the 37-year-old realized after some games that the then rookie is here to stay and set the stage on fire. J.R Smith recollected how surprised he was to see CP3 averaging 20-25 points in training camp as a rookie .

Smith’s realization went on to be true as Chris Paul seized the Rookie of the Year award during that season. In the years to follow, Smith’s friend achieved one glory after the other, only leaving the exception of an NBA championship.

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