Chris Paul says his title window is not closed: ‘We’ll be right back next year’

At 37 years old, star guard Chris Paul is definitely running out of time in the NBA.

Of course, Paul and his Phoenix Suns were just bounced in an embarrassing blowout in Game 7 of their series against the Dallas Mavericks.

With the Suns’ season over, some are wondering if Paul will have another realistic shot to win a title before his NBA career comes to an end.

Paul himself made it clear that he has every intention to be right back in the playoff mix next season with the Suns.

“They said it last year. They probably said it in ’08,” Paul said to Marc J. Spears of Andscape. “Every time you lose, they say it was your best chance. I think for me, us, we’ll be right back next year.”

It’s true that people have thought Paul’s title window closed at multiple different points in his career. Still, he is getting up there in age, and time catches up with everyone.

Throughout his career, Paul has been considered a brilliant and highly competitive player. Despite that reputation, he has endured a lot of disappointing letdowns in the postseason.

In the 2021 NBA Finals last season, the Suns were up 2-0 in their series against the Milwaukee Bucks before losing four straight games and the series. This year, the Suns were also up 2-0 against the Mavs. They couldn’t get two more wins, however, and ended up losing in one of the most lopsided Game 7 matchups in recent history.

Now, Paul and the Suns will have to recover from the disappointing letdown and figure out what they have to do in order to put themselves in a better position to win the title next season.