(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
The Clippers-Warriors rivalry was one of the best in the NBA during the early-to-mid 2010s. But for former Warriors center Andrew Bogut, his distaste for then Los Angeles point guard Chris Paul very much remains.
Bogut slammed Paul both as a player and his tenure as the President of the Player’s Association, during a wildly entertaining hit with “Tolbert, Krueger & Brooks” on Tuesday.
Regarding his time as a player rep, Bogut pointed out that Paul has been more concerned about getting more money for the highest earners, and has ignored everybody else.
“(Paul is) working for the union and basically the only great thing he’s done is give max players more money,” Bogut said. “I mean the mid-level exception under Chris Paul has completely disappeared and there’s been a big disparity and that’s just factual.”
The mid-level exception is currently set at $9.2 million per year. A max contract for a player with over 10 years of service can be as high as $38.1 million per season.
“I don’t enjoy him as a player or a person to be quite honest with you. I think he feels the same way about me which is fine.”
Bogut also explained why he always saw the Clippers as bigger rivals than the Rockets, who Paul also played for during the Warriors’ championship run.
“For whatever reason they somewhat, I wouldn’t say intimidated us, but that all that Lob City crap and the antics, Chris Paul flopping all over the place and baiting referees and doing all that stuff. When we finally kind of broke that glass ceiling, our success kind’ve progressed through there.”
Listen to the full interview below.