2 Targets worth flipping Chris Paul for ahead of the trade deadline

This season, Chris Paul has been one of the biggest positives for the San Antonio Spurs. When the team acquired him in the offseason, there was plenty of skepticism about how much he would realistically add after having arguably his worst professional season in 2023-24 with the Golden State Warriors.

Many thought CP3 was done and on the road to retirement. But he has been playing well and been a great leader to the Spurs' young talent, particularly Victor Wembanyama. It is far from surprising that a young guy like Wemby with an incredible amount of potential has been benefitting massively from having a brilliant basketball mind and future Hall-of-Famer like Paul around him.

As good as Paul has been, there has been talk that the organization could still consider moving him at the deadline if they feel they can get a good enough return back. With Paul's solid play through the first six weeks of the season, there would potentially be some contending teams that would see a need for an experienced and proven leader and playmaker.

If the Spurs were to make such a move, it could be argued that they should only do it if they can get back a first-round pick or perhaps multiple second-round picks. If there is a team out there willing to offer that, perhaps San Antonio should at least stop to listen. When it comes to players the Spurs may want back in return for Paul, a few guys stand out as top players that would be worth the move.

Damian Lillard

The Milwaukee Bucks' star has been thriving this year, and is off to a much better start than where he was a season ago. Damian Lillard is averaging 25.8 points per game and has helped the Bucks make up a lot of ground in the standings after an abysmal start to the season.

Just like he has been a great co-star to Giannis Antetokoumpo, Lillard would be a great fit with Victor Wembanyama. No, he is not on the same timeline as Wemby age-wise, but there is nothing to say they could not still play extremely well together. Dame could be another excellent vet for Victor, with the difference between CP3 and he being that Lillard still has at least a year or two of All-Star level play left in him.

Marcus Smart

Some may scoff at this one, but we have to consider a few factors here. There are not a lot of teams that are going to be breaking down the Spurs' door to get Chris Paul at this age, and probably even less that are willing to give up assets as discussed earlier. But as they are in a position to make another deep playoff run, the Memphis Grizzlies might just be willing to supplant CP3 for the struggling Smart.

The idea here for San Antonio would be to buy low. Yes, Marcus has looked much worse than the version of himself that won the Defensive Player of the Year award just three seasons ago, but he is still just 30 years old. If the Spurs think they can get anything close to that level of production out of him once again, there would be no sense in not giving it a try.