Chris Paul famously is connected to a blockbuster trade that never happened in 2011, but the Warriors point guard revealed there is another earth-shattering move involving him that didn't materialize.
The Miami Heat -- led by a Big Three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh -- came strikingly close to making a deal to acquire Paul.
During an appearance on "The Why with Dwayne Wade" podcast, Paul and the former Heat guard detailed why the move never came to fruition.
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Wade mentioned a phone call between himself, Paul and James, where the trio of All-Stars sorted and mapped out the blueprint to play together in South Beach.
"We was talking about who was going to have the ball in their hands, how it's going to work," Paul explained.
"We talk about all this, 'Okay, who's going to have the ball,' we done figured all that out, [and] somebody said, 'Who's going to wear number three?' … Silence," Wade explained. "That's the whole reason [the trade fell through] because [Paul] couldn't wear number three in Miami. Messed the whole trade up."
"You were older; you could have just worn 33," Paul quipped back at Wade with a smile. "You were older than me."
Golden State Warriors
"I was in my prime," Wade responded.
"But because you're older than me, you just wear 33," Paul replied.
"So this is the conversation we're having, and I'm like, 'That's my number,'" Wade said. "[Paul] is like, 'Well that's my number.'"
"What we going to do? CP-six?," Paul joked. "That ain't it."
"(Pat) Riley didn't pull the trigger, because [Paul] wasn't going to be able to wear number three if he came to Miami," Wade explained.
"We had talked for a while, we talked about what the team would look like, all this different type stuff," Paul revealed "… Almost in Miami, I was almost in Miami. Wade wanted to sacrifice everything else, but he didn't want to sacrifice his damn number, man."
"I'll sacrifice not getting touches," Wade said. "I'll sacrifice not getting articles read and getting the most money. But I am not giving up my number!"
The two shared a hearty laugh at the end of the conversation, dropping a bombshell on the NBA world left to wonder what life would have been like if Paul had joined a Miami team that was able to make four consecutive NBA Finals appearances without him.
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