chris paul

Christopher Emmanuel Paul (born May 6, 1985) is an American professional basketball point guard for the New Orleans Hornets.
Paul was born and raised in North Carolina. Despite only playing two varsity basketball seasons in high school, he was a McDonald's All-American and accepted a scholarship with nearby Wake Forest University. After his sophomore year with the Demon Deacons, he declared for the draft. He has participated in numerous celebrity and youth bowling events as the head of the CP3 Foundation to benefit programs in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, and charities in Winston-Salem.

High School in Clemmons, North Carolina, where he was a 2003 McDonald's All-American and was named North Carolina's Mr. Basketball for 2003 by The Charlotte Observer. Paul averaged 30.8 points, 9.5 assists, 5.9 rebounds, and 6.0 steals per game as a senior in leading his team to a 27–3 record and the Class 4A Eastern Regional finals. That same year, at the beginning of the season, Paul scored 61 points in honor of his grandfather, Nathaniel Jones, who, days before, had been beaten to death. Paul scored one point for every year his grandfather lived.

2006 NBA Rookie of the Year Award. Paul was a near-unanimous winner for the award, but one voter (Ron Boone, television analyst for the Utah Jazz) gave Deron Williams his vote instead of Paul. This, along with the fact that both were taken back to back in the draft and play the same position, has led to an on-court rivalry between Paul and Williams. Paul's season was riddled with injuries though, as he was limited to playing in only 64 games.
Paul was not named an All-Star in 2007, but he was named to replace Steve Nash in the 2007 PlayStation Skills Challenge during All-Star Weekend. He played in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge and dished out 17 assists and had 9 steals, both T-Mobile Rookie Challenge records.

Paul stirred controversy by announcing his displeasure with the move and thought the team management should have "consulted with me and asked how I felt before it happened", but clarified that he didn't expect to be asked to give approval.[17] The next day, Paul suffered a left ankle sprain against the Portland Trail Blazers that resulted in eight missed games as the Hornets went 4–4.[18] Once Paul returned on December 9, New Orleans won 18 of their next 28 games, including a six-game winning streak. He earned his third All-Star appearance as a reserve guard, finishing third with 1,055,789 votes behind Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash.[19] In early February, an MRI revealed a torn meniscus in Paul's left knee after it was tweaked in two consecutive games in late January.

2010–11 season was another All-Star selection season for Paul, making it his 4th consecutive. On March 6, 2011 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Paul collided with a Cavalier player and was motionless on the ground and had to be carried off by stretcher. He missed 2 straight games.

He made his debut for the senior United States national basketball team on August 4, 2006 in a friendly against Puerto Rico. Paul made the final cut and remained on the Team USA roster for the 2006 FIBA World Championship. Team USA finished with an 8–1 record and defeated 2004 Olympic gold medal winner Argentina for a third-place finish. Paul set a Team USA World Championship total assist record with 44 assists, to go along with only 9 turnovers.