Chris Paul Gets Emotional Talking About The Things Professional Basketball Have Cost Him Off The Court
He had his “Click” moment.
My father was recently forced into retirement.
He spent the better part of a year overly emotional as the scale of what he missed due to his job finally settled in. You get so busy with life, focusing on tomorrow. Eventually tomorrow stops mattering as much, but right now is starkly empty. And you wonder where it all went, what happened to the time you had? You had so much time, right?
Then you realize people grew up and moved out. Got married. Your wife is grey like you now. The face in the mirror changed at some point and you don’t know when it did. But you know that’s not who you remember looking at.
It’s a cataclysm for many. Just being able to see the forest for the first time in decades and realizing it never waited for you. “Things will change next year” kept being promised and never came.
Now you have to reconcile what is left and how you neglected so much of it. For these guys, spending so much of their life abroad- it has to hit home as much as it did my father. More so, because they are traveling much more than he ever did. And it psychologically annihilated my father.
I completely changed careers when my kids were born strictly because I didn’t want to miss that time with them. Best decision I ever made. You cannot get that time back.
Yeah I have two young kids right now, 3 & 1. I don’t really love my job, and would love to make more money or do something different. It’s fine though, and it’s decent pay, I’m just not rich. But most importantly it’s pretty flexible about being in the office and I’m done around 3-4 each day. I get to spend time with my family. I can try something for me later in life when there’s time for me again
I’ve been at the same company with the same title for over 10 years now. The stability and flexibility around family life has been worth the lack of progression.
Maybe I’ll look back and wished I’d made more money, but I won’t regret the amount of time I’ve been able to spend with my kids (even though they drive me crazy).
I could have written this verbatim. Agree 100%
I have a 3 and 1 year old too. I make a lot of money. But I work a lot of hours. I spent 15 minutes on facetime with my 3 year old the other night as she cried because dada wouldn’t be getting home until after bedtime tonight. Anyways, I often think about moving to a less lucrative, more available version of my job…
You really should consider looking for a less demanding job man, as long as you can live within those means. To me it sounds like you’re already starting to miss out on the best parts of raising kids and being a dad.
Everyone needs to decide what’s right for themselves, but I have absolutely zero regrets working in a less demanding and lower paying role within my field in order to have significantly more flexibility and time with kids. I’d do it all over again if I had to choose and I wouldn’t even need to think about it.
Same here. Went from constant stress corporate leadership to non-profit work. Two young kids. Won’t go back.
You cannot get that time back.
It’s the most valuable thing we have. Time is the only thing you cannot buy or barter for.
Mid life hits different.
Same-ish. I post here all the time about how I worked like a psycho before my son was born. But I did that because I knew and planned to step back significantly once he was.
I only do this part time now. (hence why I have time to post here so often lol. Before I never could have)
He’s 5 now and I’ve spent a vast majority of his very young days with him doing things or even just being at home. He had a crazy day yesterday so I made him cinnamon rolls for breakfast as a special treat and right now hes playing with toys in front of me while I sit on the couch and type this up. Life is good.
I’ll go back to working a little more once he starts kindergarten but I’m never going back to the 80 hour weeks again. (Unless I get really bored when I’m old and all kids, if we have more, are moved out).
It has its times where you kinda miss more frequent work/adult time etc but if you can do something part time to keep you “semi adult human” lol, it really feels like the perfect balance.
Yeah, I’m a father of two myself. They’re 11 and 7. It goes by so fast.
I made a choice to go from a super busy but well paying job to one where I make a decent amount less but I’m accorded so much more time to myself and with my kids.
Not everyone can afford that luxury, but I was lucky enough that I could and don’t regret it for a second. I switched when my oldest was 4 and my youngest was just born. Now I don’t miss a single practice, recital, school event. I get to be there, present. I don’t want to regret time missed when I’m old and grey. That time to me is how I consider myself rich.
You have wealth beyond riches. Proud of you.
man. this touched me somewhere i didn’t think a reddit comment ever would.
The only thing you can’t buy is time.
Chris Paul is 41 year old millionaire. Like a hundred something millions. He can’t buy it back, but he has a lot of time to try and recoup the investment of his younger years.
The only thing you can’t buy is time
While I get the sentiment, this isn’t entirely true.
Someone who retires at 40 gets way more time to spend with family and friends than someone who retires at 65+.
Even little things like people who can afford to have their groceries delivered, or going further people who have a personal chef or a professional cleaner or anything else that the average person has to spend their time doing, that’s all a way that money can buy time.
Your kids don’t magically get younger especially someone who had kids early you miss a lot
he’s rich enough to trade them in for a new set of kids he can spend time with
Time is like the main thing rich people buy lol.
You can’t buy back previous time. You can never make your kids babies again.
Not really true. Most of my rich friends work 60-80, don’t have friends, see their kids minimal.
This is basically the entire Dark Side of the Moon album in a nutshell.
“And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it’s sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
Sun is the same, in a relative way, but you’re older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death”
That 5 year run where they put out Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and Animals is arguably the best 5 years of any band in history. Every song was a masterpiece with meaningful lyrics and deep themes. The only knock I can think of it in comparison to other bands like The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix Experience, or Rolling Stones is that they weren’t prolific enough and it’s only 20 songs total. Hard to argue against the quality though.
Can’t forget Zeppelin I-IV, Houses of the Holy, and Physical Graffiti from 1969-1975. Zeppelin and Floyd were both on absolute heaters back then
Yeah they were. It always blows my mind to look it up and see that Led Zeppelin 1 and 2 were both released in the same year. Amazing albums and somebody who is less into blues-rock could argue they’re not even top 5 for the year because Abbey Road, In the Court of the Crimson King, Hot Rats, Let it Bleed, Santana self-titled, and Sly and the Family Stone’s Stand! all came out in 1969. Pretty much anybody can agree music fans were feasting that year.
This made me so emotional haha
I wouldn’t be shocked if all of us know somebody who you never see because they are always at work.
Honestly, it sucks. Jobs and careers are important, but step back once in a while, you know? You’re missing life.
Just being able to see the forest for the first time in decades and realizing it never waited for you.
Ah yes, jump into social media while drinking mate to procrastinate on work and without even noticing I’m tearing up at 9:39 AM.
This ain’t supposed to be this kind of subreddit /s
“Just being able to see the forest for the first time in decades and realizing it never waited for you ” .
You had no reason to drop the realest quote ever
I call it the “cats in the cradle moment”
Had it for the first time when I had to leave for a business trip on my daughters birthday. I took the rest of the day off to spend time with her before I flew out in the afternoon.
But the whole way to the airport and in the hotel that night I just kept thinking about the chorus of that song.
And your father did it for a fraction of what pro players make
Ego integrity vs Despair
I once read something that basically said, “At your funeral, the only people who will remember that you worked late will be your kids”.
And honestly, that was true of my own father. It put a lot in perspective.
My wife is super dedicated to her job, this an admirable trait but she’s getting older, our kids are just a few short years from being teens.
I’ve tried telling her to find something else thats 9-5, we can make sacrifices to put the emphasis on family and prioritizing our health but she doesn’t see the picture the way I do.
It’s already been 9 years, half way to the kids leaving the nest.
Time is a commodity you can only spend, have to do so wisely or live with regret.
Well the difference between people like your father and people like Chris Paul is that he could have stopped…..at practically any time into his career….and said to himself the cost of being away is too great and just….stop doing it. With zero consequences as long as he wasn’t a complete dunce with his money (which to be fair, most pro athletes are). If people like your father did that it would mean poverty more times than not.
So I really , really have a tough time empathizing with people like Chris Paul when they come out with sob stories like this. They don’t know the half of it. Like even in his case, he’s retired at 41. Most normal people would be lucky to retire at 60-65. He has fucking plenty of good quality of life and time left to spend with family.
What a great film btw. It starts off as a normal Adam Sandler film, fart jokes and big boobs and then all of a sudden you’re in tears having learnt such a valuable life lesson.
I cried watching that film. Really touching.
Mannn I remember watching that in theatres all teary eyed as a kid
I feel like this is the number 1 random ass movie that makes men cry, it’s always a fun conversation with people that don’t give it the respect it deserves. My best friends girlfriend thought we were trolling one night and she turned it on, proceeded to make fun of our emotional maturity for about an hour and then could not finish the movie, she just lost it.
Him flipping off Sean Astin then giving him a thumbs up always got me for some reason.
Him and Sean Astin are also great together in 50 First Dates
Never saw the movie, does rewind not work like the other buttons do?
You can rewind to rewatch what happened but you can’t interact or change it. There’s a really sad scene when he rewinds to see what happened between him and his dad while he was fast forwarding his life
Ah I see, thanks.
There’s a Kurt Vonnegut book called Timequake in which the earth is sent back 10 years in time and you have knowledge of what happened. However, you can’t change your actions. One of my favorites by him
I’m so sorry, I’m not familiar with “Click”. What do you mean by that? Is this a pop-culture reference?
Movie by Adam Sandler from the 00s.
I see, thank you. I’ll check it out.
I have no idea how it holds up, but it was one of my favorite movies as a kid. Cried every time
Don’t watch any previews or read any more comments on this. Going into it blindly will hit home so much harder.
Side note, if you remember can you update me after you watched it?!
have tissues ready for the end of the movie.
The movie Click, for what it was, was the most influential movie for me.
Every single thing in life is a trade off.
Yup. I’m currently sitting in front of computer screens on a seemingly beautiful morning. There’s a million things I’d rather be doing. But we need the money to pay for the things.
You get paid by the comment or what?
Bots have bills too you know
I heard they are getting higher tho.
Smh, bots take our jobs and now our recreational drugs!?
Let me see them try to take mine. Ill break their tiny clanker hands.
No see the idea is they do the work we do the drugs
Hey hey we all use this platform to escape. No need to kick him while he’s down
I use to argue with strangers to cultivate my inner 15 year old. We are not the same.
Everytime I’m on Reddit, my wife will look over and ask, “you arguing with strangers on the internet again?” Lol
Bet your ass I am!
No you aint!
I do and am! clocked in on the job, commenting on how you suck, my job can fuck right off and you can too
Lool
Yep same.
Spend all day in Microsoft excel and enterprise software.
Need the money
Here’s to the legacy .NET 4.7 app that feeds my family.
I’m currently sitting in my garden enjoying a coffee on a cool morning, but I’m procrastinating creating more work for future me to do. It’s all a trade off.
Fuck future me though, that guy can suck it.
Are you a cam girl?
Damn, I wish.
Started reading Dark Matter and this early quote stuck with me
“It’s the beautiful thing about youth.
There’s a weightlessness that permeates everything because no damning choices have been made, no paths committed to, and the road forking out ahead is pure, unlimited potential.”
I watched an interview with Danny McBride where he was talking about the dueling perspectives of being young vs being a parent. How when he was a kid middle school was forever. As a parent it’s 3 summers and it’s over. I have 2 young sons and it’s crazy and a bit sentimental realizing the time with your kids is such a small part of your life.
But a jetski? that’s forever.
You should definitely read Recursion if you like Dark Matter. It’s similar but feels like a much more refined version of the themes that are being tackled.
we choose our regrets in life
Life is all problems. Everything has a trade off.
We meme CP3 a lot. But honestly, he’s one of the best modern PG we have witnessed. And the cost of being the best comes with a lot of sacrifices. Time and moments with family, etc. Sure you could say ‘ but he has made a truckload of money’. But then again, is money really with it if in the end you leave the court with regret? Too bad he can’t win a chip though.
He’s done a lot for his community and I know his comment is about missing things (because he has when he’s traveling or practicing), but reality is he’s always been grounded by his mom and stays heavily involved with his family.
Good to know.
Most criminally underrated PG
Properly rated. But because of Ring culture, he comes of as underrated.
Chris has it right… while you may get paid millions, it never fully heals the hurt of all the stuff you missed… that you can’t get back. I’m sad his career ended the way it did, but I hope he’s able to enjoy being back with his family and getting to see those new moments again without competing obligations.
Get paid millions and gets to retire by 40….I would make that sacrifice.
These athletes are out of touch. Welcome to real world where this happens to millions of people.
There is no amount of money in the world I’d trade for being with my kids from 0-13 and 0-17 which is what he’s missed.
He’s blessed in a lot of ways, I bet I’m richer than hell ever be in so many others.
I don’t feel bad for him, but I can empathize for him
Its not like he worked on an offshore oil rig. Why didn’t he have his family move with him, which is a totally normal thing to do? And he was there for offseasons.
I’m sure in-season an NBA player works a schedule comparable to a biglaw associate or investment banker - 80+ hour weeks. But you can still make it work with a family
Maybe he didn’t want to dispute his wife’s work or his kids school life / friendships.
Ask a kid with military parents how it feels to move nonstop .
And even if you uproot their lives and force them to move every 2-3 years, you’re not even there. You’re still traveling and at the facility all the time. That’s why so many don’t move their family.
Moving kids around every couple years is fucking awful for the kids. Imagine trying to make friends every couple of years and never having long term friendships.
Thousands of military kids don’t have to imagine this.
I made friends easily enough each move, but I have zero lifelong friends that I still stay in contact with and it’s more difficult to make friends as an adult because every relationship feels temporary, so I subconsciously don’t know how to go below ankle deep with anyone. Not having any kind of “hometown” (or even a home state/region) kind of sucks too.
So I get why pro athletes wouldn’t want to uproot their families at the drop of a hat every couple years.
Exactly how I am/feel. No siblings either, feel a little unmoored, ya know?
Because he had to travel around the country as part of his job, so why would he uproot his kids and their school and his wife’s life to move to a place he’d only be part of the time anyway?
Yeah, the opportunities for these guys to spend time with the family in the offseason and in retirement (and for many of the players, on non-game days at home) is greater than for your average working guy. I get what he’s saying and I empathize with it but not more than I empathize with the vast majority of people in the world.
The answer is that he simply was not prioritizing his family and kids. And that is likely why he feels so emotional about it now…
Or he was prioritizing them by not making them move with him every couple years just to be in a spot that he spends 50% of his time at
What’s the point in living in the same house as your spouse if they’re not physically there bc they have to travel and train so much?
Might as well live in a city where I have friends, family, or some sort of support system. Even more so if I had kids, they need routine and structure.
Out of touch because he regrets wasn’t able to spend more time with his kids? This actually makes him more human.
I don’t know why people always feel the need to comment this. He never said that he has it worse off than everyone else, or that you should uniquely feel bad for him alone, or that the money he made wasn’t worth it. He’s just offering his perspective and explaining his feelings.
Is he not allowed to simply be sad about the fact that he missed a lot of life in chasing his dream?
There’s a lot of people who think rich people aren’t allowed to have emotions or that they can’t have problems.
This exactly, he certainly lives a different, way more privileged life than the average person just because of his income (that he earned through his hard work)
But this isn’t a competition about who has the worse life, and I’m sure the dawning realization that you missed a lot of moments of your kids/families lives would be pretty devastating emotionally regardless of how awesome the rest of your life is.
Nothing he said in this video was out of touch, it was simply just a man realizing all the moments he missed, despite all of his wealth.
You can empathize with that moment, while still thinking that they are more privileged than 99% of people.
Personally for me, it also says a lot about him as a person that he is able to talk about this in such a public medium, as it’s pretty emotional and personal.
Retired at 40 but you missed every major milestone of your kids growing up. If that’s worth it to you cool I guess.
Their season runs from late October until mid April when you miss the playoffs. Lets not overstate how many milestones they will miss.
Yeah exactly. Regular people miss way more of their kids lives working as much as they can just to put food on the table. These athletes get around 6 months straight of being off work that they can use to see their kids all day with barely any obligations and enough money to do whatever they want and give their kids everything. People in those are talking about no money is worth missing milestones without realizing regular people miss them all the time for much less money lol
Chris was routinely in the playoffs. They also train a bunch before season. So really its the entire school year.
That doesn’t happen to all of them, sure they are on the road a lot but they are also home a lot too. Then they get a big ass break in the summer.
If your family lives with you in your team’s city, you won’t miss everything- not even close.
Yeah. I remember cp3 being on the banana boat. These dudes choose this life. They would do almost everything exactly the same.
I am in no way saying it’s the same. But I know dudes who work offshore - 4 weeks on 4 weeks off. They miss a lot of family stuff.
He could have retired a decade ago. He has been hanging on for a good 5 years or so. It’s a trade off. One he made when he didn’t have to (last 5years). And one almost every single one of us would have made for at least 5 years
“ I remember him being on a vacation with his friends”
Not really the burn you think it is.
Its like you missed the entire point. The Millions dont replace time. I wouldnt trade time with my family for money, ever
The existence of pain in others does not invalidate the experience of someone else. The richest people in the world are often miserable because of what they’ve sacrificed at the altar of that money. You can choose to feel empathy for them or not.
Personally I find it refreshing to see someone rich and famous insinuate that the chase and grind to that level of success every American thinks is “the point” has a high cost. It’s way healthier of a mindset than is often portrayed.
Happens to millions of people without getting anywhere near the millions of dollars.
Millions of people go through this because they absolutely have to, just to survive.
Yes, he missed a lot of things, but he also got to experience a lot of things most people never will. Most importantly, he had a healthy outlet for the competitive demon that lives inside him. If he hadn’t had basketball, it would have needed to express itself in some other way. There’s no way it would have been content with no climbing some kind of career ladder. Some people just got that dog in them
Really?
How much does it hurt if you have the same experience as Chris Paul but you’re doing it for minimum wage?
People clowned derrick rose for saying he wanted to still be able to walk when his kids graduated. I think it’s cool we are seeing this kind of thing be more accepted
People clowned D Rose because he was a PR interview nightmare during that stretch. Whatever he said was straight ass.
We men, you can assume
Also he’s done some of stuff that would make you a pr nightmare if the world wasn’t already so messed up 😬
Yeah but this is exactly why it was kind of weird. The last 2-3 years of CP3’s career, he was so clearly very washed. I never understood why he kept going, like just hang it up and go be with your family and do normal dad stuff. So it’s weird to hear him talk so soon after retirement about what it cost him
Easier said than done to just hang it up. These guys mentality and commitment are on another level. Even if he feels some sadness or regret about what it cost him now that he’s done, it shouldn’t be surprising at all that he pushed himself to the absolute limit to try and achieve his biggest career goal.
All of this but now imagine you have made 400 million dollars from basketball and you’re not 40 years old yet. No sympathy from me.
Forreal. CP3’s son is only 17 now, could’ve spent a lot more time with him instead of becoming an NBA journeyman vet at the very end. Wonder why? He made 30 million and 10 million in his 1 year stop at the Warriors and Spurs. Dude chose money and to stay in the big show, despite having made over $360 million in NBA earnings already
Some people are willing to trade their marriage for just one more mid season
When you get a chance to go 8 - 9, you gotta do what the fuck you gotta do
I wasn’t paying much attention to nfl for Bradys last season, but damn he really did go 8-9
As a Bucs fan it’s really more on Bowles and Leftwich. We weren’t doing shit with them as coaches and we’re lucky to go 8-9 in all honesty. He should’ve stayed retired, but I’m sure he didn’t expect BA to retire out of the blue like that
And kiss their son on the lips
Tom: I think I have a little bit left in the tank. I think I can win another ring and really cement my legacy.
Giselle: You have more rings than any franchise. You showed the world that you are the greatest player to ever play the game. What more do you have to prove?
Tom: There is always more to prove.
People have said his marriage was already done by that point. So he went back to football for his mental health while his personal life was in shambles. Feel bad for the guy
And now after all his healthy living nonsense he advertises Butterfingers.
Butterfingers kinda slap these days though
man I wonder who you’re talking about
In fairness, if he started spending more time at his house, giselle’s karate coach was gunna beat his ass
Man y’all are some bitter people lol.
They’re still human beings who chose this career and went all in on it. Like no one here who actually has a job missed certain key things due to their position or professional obligations?
Agree. Look he’s not complaining about wages or healthcare or time off. He’s sad he missed time with family members.
If u can’t be even slightly empathetic to that prob check yourself a little. The world doesn’t get better without empathy
Indeed. I generally consider myself extremely cynical and can have an aversion to rich people complaining, but this hit me watching this. It’s an extremely human video of a person expressing a very human feeling. I’m shocked there are so many hating when even I’m not 😂
People on reddit hate when anyone with money expresses human emotion.
I have videos of my daughter taking her first steps and I’m not noticing because I’m working on something that was more important at the time.
Wait, does anyone here actually have a job?
A lot of the people on this sub seem to think that people with money shouldn’t ever complain about anything just because they have money.
Yep. This is huge life lesson. Nothing to do with money.
No amount of money can replace missing vital moments. He lost family members who he’ll never see again. He missed key developmental milestones in his kids’ lives. He’s rich, and his kids are taken care of. I’m sure he’d do it the same way all over again if he could, because he’s created unbelievable opportunity for his family and community. But that doesn’t take away from the pain he feels for making those sacrifices. He’s allowed to have feelings about it. He’s not a robot.
He could have retired years ago.
He literally acknowledges that? That he was so caught up in getting better and accomplishing things that he missed everything else going on. You cant sympathize at all?
Sure, he could have. But I think it’s hard for Hall of Fame-caliber players like Chris Paul to walk away from the game. Basketball is all they’ve known for most of their lives, so stepping away isn’t an easy choice to make
“His kids are taken care of” might be the understatement of the year. He made a couple hundred million dollars. His great-grandkids will be taken care of.
Sure, but when you stepped on that path you should have made your peace with it. 400+m earnings on the court. Can you even imagine making that if you had 10 lifetimes?
I’m not saying he can’t be sad or get emotional about missing priceless family moments, but this isn’t exclusive or even unique to him or even professional athletes. Anyone who chases success has to make sacrifices- whether it be relationships, health or hobbies.
He got a better deal than 99% of us and frankly, if it was about rings he could’ve gone the Brunson/Brady route and taken less. If family time was priority, he could’ve left earlier and still be financially secure for the rest of his life.
I don’t really have sympathy for multimillionaires having pity parties. He made that choice. Most people dont get to make a choice between work and family.
Greatness comes at a cost
Man, I got emotional listening to this…
It’s especially sad cause he’s talking about an example from when he was a teenager - like he’s in his 40s now but the sacrifices started when he was still just a kid.
Man, sitting at my desk at work and crying too. Damn you, Chris Paul!
Comments in here are so fucking shallow. You don’t much you realize how much these kinds of moments matter until you have a family of your own. The “generational wealth” and “millions on millions of dollars” can’t bring back the important times he’s missed with his family. Hopefully he can find that peace now in retirement.
It’s young person disease.
Some people figure it out early but it doesn’t hit most of us until middle age.
Yea I wonder how old the people making the snarky comments are. There’s nothing tone-deaf or wrong with what he said
Probably under 30
This hit me like a truck when I turned 45.
I thought a midlife crisis was a sitcom invention. Nope
There is such a callous lack of empathy in these replies. Same old canned “he’s rich so I don’t care that he’s feeling human emotions about the sacrifices he made to get there.” Guy’s a human being with a family and with feelings just like all of us waking up for our regular person jobs today.
I missed a lot of important moments chasing money.
In the end, I have three kids that don’t talk to me, a divorce, and no money.
Do not recommend.
“They wasn’t with you shooting in the gym” means more than just the others didn’t work hard for it.
It also means you missed out on life while working on your craft.
The sword cuts both ways.
All the people saying “I’ll never feel bad for multimillionaire athletes are missing the point or missing empathy. Normally I’d totally agree with you when athletes make themselves the victims like Jalen Brown yesterday, talking about industry loyalty.
To me, this is very different. This is not a man complaining for being a victim, it’s a man at the end of his career, reflecting on what it cost to get there, at the time in his life, when people tend to think about these kinds of things. It’s also the one thing that money can never buy him, or getting those moments back.
Maybe it’s just because I can relate due to all the family moments and friends weddings, I missed because of Med school and residency, but I think this was a genuine and vulnerable moment, and I respect him for it. I love being a doctor so much, but that doesn’t mean I can’t reflect and mourn the loss of those moments it cost me that I’ll never get back.
Damn dude you put down exactly what was bouncing round my head.
I am also a doctor who moved to a new country for better training prospects. Im back home now for a couple of days and this is really hitting.
I was raised by my grandmother and when I came back home I could not belive how much she’s changed. She used to be one of the strongest women I know, now she’s an old lady with wrinkly skin and grey hair, barely a whisper of who she once was. I know that I ( most probably )won’t be with her when she passes and that thought tears me apart.
What is the point of me becoming someone who saves lives of I can’t be there for the one person who was there for me.
I’m sure your grandma is super proud of you, and that’s the sacrifice you both made so you can have the life you wanted to have.
Like I said, doesn’t mean you can’t feel sad about it. Just make sure the sacrifice was worth it, be a great doctor, and lead a meaningful life, and spend whatever time you can with your grandmother.
As someone who traveled a lot for work and missed a lot of important things before I made a career change.. this hit home.
There is no greater joy in life than being with the people you love
A lot of people work 2 jobs and don’t see there kids at all and some single mothers don’t even get to eat so there children can eat stressing to keep a roof over there head that’s real pressure not sports plus people can’t even retire players retire what 35-37? And get to spend as much time with there family
This does not make his feelings any less valid.
Everything has an opportunity cost in life. His feelings are indeed valid but getting a great deal and being disgruntled about the cost to people who have paid a lot more for far less will lead to these type of comments to nobody’s surprise
Ah so only people who you deem sufficiently poor enough can you express certain emotions got it….
By that logic, there are homeless people who are starving and have nothing and wish they could have a family, so those single mothers with 2 jobs should shut up and be grateful they have something.
Players get 4-5 months off a year too lol
So many of you assholes are just putting words in his mouth to get on your high horse about not feeling bad for a wealthy person.
He did not say he didn’t have a choice, he did not say he is unhappy, he did not say it’s unfair, he did not say he deserves your sympathy.
He’s just talking on a podcast and expressing himself in a conversation, of which there is no surrounding context because it’s clipped.
I know Redditors don’t know how people work irl but jfc some of these comments are pathetic.
we ain’t forget about Kim K bud.
Sometimes I wonder how society has gotten to the point where it currently is and then I see the lack of empathy in the comments and it all becomes clear
I’d hate to live a life separated from my wife and kids and for that reason I’m happy I’m living a life with them
He didn’t “have to miss” anything for a long time.
He had generational wealth a decade ago.
He chose to acrue more wealth at the cost of spending time with his family.
That was his choice.
Most people don’t get that choice. They don’t have generational wealth. They can’t retire before they’re even 30.
The same people trying to call other people out for not wanting to listen to this shit talking about “empathy”, let me know when you’re volunteering in a soup kitchen or adopting a war orphan.
Miss me with taking the moral high ground because you left a pleasant comment about a millionaire’s woes.
I’ve made those choices in my career that put me closer to those I care about and probably lost me money. It took me losing a parent as a young adult to evaluate how important your loved ones are and how little time you actually get with them.
That’s real talk
Ready to be slammed for “lacking empathy” here but I’ll never understand pro athletes who get married and start families before they’re retired or at least approaching the end of their career. It seems obv and ethical to me that the typical pro athlete should spend their 20s thru their mid 30s maximally enjoying their youth and wealth with minimal attachments instead of arbitrarily “committing” to some college sweetheart who they’re 97% of the time gonna leave mostly alone to raise a few kids while he gets traded around multiple cities and cheats with random IG models however much he feels like. Maybe CP3 is the rare case of a faithful pro athlete, in which case I’d feel more sympathy, but those odds are low, and either way this whole missing your kids thing could’ve been nipped in the bud by just… waiting to have them? Or retiring earlier?
Im the same as him! Except without the hundreds of millions.
He made over $400,000,000 dollars in his career and is only 41. I think he’s gonna be ok, guys.
No different than any other adult has to make to provide for their family. Except 99.9% of people won’t make hundreds of millions of dollars playing a game.
If NBA players were smarter they would have kids in their early 30s. They’ll either be retired or close to retirement.
Love how quick everyone forgot that “family man” and “I love my son” CP3 had an affair with KIM K.
Boo hoo, man.
You chose this life and for a long time. After SIX years you’d cleared 55+ million. You didn’t need to keep going, and coulda spent all that time with your family in absolute luxury.
No doubt he’s had to give up a lot. He didn’t become the player he was because he was taller or stronger than everyone else, his game took time and effort to develop.
That being said, he’s 41 years old and retired. If you want to find yourself in a position to enjoy the little moments the rest of your life, you couldn’t ask for a better one than his. Not trying to discredit what he’s sacrificed so far but I’m glad he’s realizing this now.
The personal cost of living your dream.
Reminds me of my favorite poem. We played it at my dad’s service:
Life wonders what we’ll do with the time we get. How far will we reach, what goals will we set? How will we spend our time? Who will we spend it with? We give it to our fathers, our mothers, our children, each other. When we want to show how much we care, we give time to one another. Time is all we have to give. Life isn’t beautiful because it lasts forever. So time is where the miracles live.
poem source: https://youtu.be/LSkfeM9SAqA?is=UPZ7Hu-MszvVUyrx
“ Just being able to see the forest for the first time in decades and realizing it never waited for you. “Things will change next year” kept being promised and never came. “
Don’t know why this hit pretty hard at 10:18am EST while I’m on my break…
While I sympathize with him as a person and a brother/father/son etc. how is this any different than the parent or family member that couldnt make something because they had to pick up that second shift at minimum wage just to put food on the table? I love you Chris, but respectfully, cry me a fucking river. This is life. Buy your brother a damn house, take him on a trip around the world or whatever and make up for missed events you rich bastard.
Warriors legend, Chris Paul got me in the feelings
These rich clowns man…We all miss a lot and go through a lot of shit in life but we dont have the upside of being famous and making hundreds of millions and never having to worry about what our family will eat or where they live or anything.
I guess I cant blame him because we all can only deal with what is in front of us but if he only knew how other people live, like really knew, he’d stop that crying shit asap.
Your passion is your job while making ton of money. You literally living the dream. Not to mention you retired mid 30’s. You can spend the next 20 years with your children grandchildren lives a comfortable life. I take it in a heartbeat.
This is deep 🥲
He has generational wealth and doesn’t have to work a day in his life. Sorry if I don’t have any empathy for him, we all trade our time in this world and most of us get pennies on the dollar for it.
bruh to have this feeling AND not even reach the mountaintop AND get done so dirty by the clippers…. ugh, i feel for dude. at least he can try to make up for it now.
I’ll remember to the day I die his grandfather was murdered back where we’re from in Winston Salem when he was at Carver High the next day he scored like 63 or whatever age he was when he passed in 2.5 quarters then just left the game crying. It’s the greatest thing I’ve ever seen with my own two eyes and it’s clear he always sacrificed self for basketball I hope he finds peace in his retirement
Wow, to hear him open up 🥹 with his perspective changed now, I’m sure he’ll use the time he does have wisely
I hate Chris Paul but this does get me. That’s a pretty big sacrifice.
Boo hoo, nobody forced him, wtf is this
Whats crazy is spurs really could’ve used him in the finals. They might win with him on the roster in crunch time
Shouldn’t you have included the date or at least the year this was recorded? It wasn’t this year I know that. Lots of reposts in the off-season that have people thinking it’s new.
Man who knew playing a kids game making millions would cost so much
I hear these nba guys and other sports figures but they always leave out the part about being generationally wealthy … try having these same thoughts while trying to make ends meet down at the plant or mill
I have so much respect for chris paul, man. This is real shit and he has been talking about it openly for a while.
Always a victim even with all that privilege. He would do well in a certain country in the middle east