Chris Paul is looking very much the way Kevin Garnett did in his final days with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Despite seeing his team go from a Western Conference finalist to a team that missed the playoffs for three straight seasons, KG never talked about wanting to leave Minnesota. He would talk only about how to make the team a winner again.

And now here’s Paul doing his best KG imitation by taking the classy, professional route while Rajon Rondo so brashly disrespects him. The league didn’t need to review Paul’s actions after that game in Boston last week when he and Rondo got face-to-face in a heated exchange. If anything, the fact that Paul didn’t pummel Rondo right then and there showed amazing restraint.
But Paul didn’t hold back when he took note that Emeka Okafor, whom the Hornets acquired for Tyson Chandler during the offseason, seemed to be babying a toe injury that had him out for the entire preseason. Paul got in Okafor’s face when it was suggested he wouldn’t play in the season opener. According to a person with knowledge of the situation, Paul had to be restrained by David West in the locker-room altercation.
It speaks volumes about Paul’s intense desire to win and also shows what many around the NBA observe to be mounting frustration within the All-Star point guard about the state of the low-budget Hornets, who have dramatically regressed — most notably in payroll — since a 56-win, second-round finish in 2007-08. (For instance, when asked about the impact of the salary-dump departure of Rasual Butler, who was sent to the Clippers over the summer, one Hornets staffer glumly replied with a terse “no comment.”)
So far Paul has refused to speak out publicly against the franchise’s direction, even as he watches other stars of his generation with franchises that are earnestly building and maintaining a contender.
“I’m envious, I’m very envious,” Paul said after a loss to the Knicks last week. “Those guys have been where I want to get to. This is my fifth year in the league, and I’m not trying to wait until I’m an old veteran in this league to win a championship. We’re trying to win now.”
It seems only a matter of time before the Hornets are faced with the same decision the Timberwolves had to make in the summer of 2007. Garnett had an opt-out in his contract after the ’07-08 season and speculation was high that he would test free agency. Minnesota owner Glen Taylor eventually decided it was necessary to trade his star.
Paul’s opt-out comes in 2012. How soon before George Shinn comes to the same conclusion?